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I was in the area, checking up on the Heath Spotted Orchids, and the church was a five minute drive away, in the grounds of a former country house.
I park at the church and find it locked, as expected, but there were directions to a keyholder nearby, walking into the cobbled squares and converted estate buildings now executive housing.
I ring the bell: nothing
I ring again: nothing
I use the knocker: dog barks. Dog attacks the door.
There is angry voices. Or voice. There was the sound of the dog being put into a side room, and the struggle to close the door.
The front door opened: yes?
Can I have the church key, please?
Not sure if I still have it.
Why'd you want it?
To photograph the interior.
Who're with?
I'm with no one, I am photographing all parish churches in the county, and would like to do this one. I showed him my driving licence which should say under job title: obsessive and church crawler.
He seemed satisfied, and let me have the key.
Phew.
Inside two things you notice; one is the box tomb, finely carved and still with traces of the original paint, and secondly, the organ is in pieces, and apparently the most complicated jigsaw you ever did see
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Substantially rebuilt after a fire of 1598. The welcoming interior displays no chancel arch, although the doorways in the arcade show where the medieval rood screen ran the width of the church. The striking east window was designed by Wallace Wood in 1954. There is a good aumbry and piscina nearby. To the north of the chancel stands the excellent tomb chest of Sir John Tufton (d. 1624). The arcade into which it is built was lowered to allow a semi-circular alabaster ceiling to be inserted to set the composition off. Because it is completely free-standing it is one of the easiest tomb chests in Kent to study, with five sons kneeling on the south side and four daughters on the north . In addition there are complicated coats of arms and an inscription which records the rebuilding of the church by Tufton after the fire. On top of the chest lie Sir John and his wife, with their son Nicholas kneeling between their heads. Much of the monument is still covered with its original paint. The organ, which stands in the south aisle, may be the instrument on which Sir Arthur Sullivan composed 'The Lost Chord'. It originally stood in Hothfield Place where Sullivan was a frequent guest.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Hothfield
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HOTHFIELD
IS the next parish northward from Great Chart, and is so called from the bothe, or heath within it. The greatest part of this parish lies within the hundred of Chart and Longbridge, and the remainder in that of Calehill. It is in the division of East Kent.
THE PARISH of Hothfield lies a little more than two miles from Ashford north-westward, the high road from which towards Lenham and Maidstone goes through it over Hothfield heath. It contains about 1250 acres, and fifty houses, the rents of it are about 1300l. per annum. It is not a pleasant, nor is it accounted a healthy situation, owing probably to the many low and watry lands in and about it. The river Stour, which rises at Lenham, runs along the southern side of the parish, which is watered likewise by several small streams, which rise about Charing and Westwell, from under the chalk hills, and join the Stour here. The heath, which contains near one half of the parish, consists mostly of a deep sand, and has much peat on it, which is continually dug by the poor for firing. On the east and west sides of the heath, the latter being called West-street, are two hamlets of houses, which form the scattered village of Hothfield. The Place-house stands on a hill, at a small distance from the corner of the heath southward, with some small plantations of trees about it, forming a principal object to the country round it. It is a square mansion, built of Portland stone, by the late earl of Thanet, on the scite of the antient mansion, close to the church; it has a good prospect round it. The adjoining grass grounds are extensive, and well laid out for the view over them; the water, which rises at no great distance from the house, becomes very soon a tolerable sized stream, and running on in sight of it, joins the Stour a little above Worting mill; these grass lands are fertile and good fatting land, like those mentioned before, near Godington, in Great Chart. The parsonage house, which is a neat dwelling of white stucco, stands at the southern corner of the heath, at the foot of the hill, adjoining the Place grounds, near West-street. Between the heath and Potter's corner, towards Ashford, the soil begins to approach much of the quarry stone.
Though the land in the parish is naturally poor, it is rendered productive by the chalk and lime procured from the down hills. The inhabitants have an unlimited right of commoning with those of the adjoining parish of Westwell, to upwards of five hundred acres of common, which affords them the means of keeping a cow and their poultry, which, with the liberty of digging peat, draws a number of certificated poor to reside here. There is not one dissenter in the parish.
Jack Cade, the noted rebel, in Henry the VI.th's reign, though generally supposed to be taken by Alexander Iden, esq. the sheriff, in a field belonging to Ripple manor, in the adjoining parish of Westwell, was discovered, as some say, in a field in this parish, still named from him, Jack Cade's field, now laid open with the rest of the grounds adjoining to Hothfieldplace.
The plant caryophyllata montena, or water avens, which is a very uncommon one, grows in a wood near Barber's hill, in this parish.
THE MANOR OF HOTHFIELD seems, in very early times, to have had the same owners as the barony of Chilham, and to have continued so, for a considerable length of time after the descendants of Fulbert de Dover were become extinct here. Bartholomew de Badlesmere, who in the 5th year of king Edward II. had a grant of this manor as well as of Chilham in see, appears to have held this manor of Hothfield by grand sergeantry of the archbishop, and accordingly, in the 8th year of it, at the enthroning of archbishop Walter Reynolds, he made his claim, and was allowed to perform the office of chamberlain for that day, and to serve up the water, for the archbishop to wash his hands; for which his fees were, the furniture of his bedchamber, and the bason and towel made use of for that purpose; (fn. 1) and in the next year he obtained of the king, a charter of free-warren for his demesne lands within this manor among others. After this the manor of Hothfield continued to be held by the like service, and continued in the same owners as that of Chilham, (fn. 2) down to Thomas lord Roos, who became entitled to the see of it, who for his attachment to the house of Lancaster, was, with others, attainted, in the 1st year of king Edward IV.'s reign, and his lands confiscated to the crown. But Margaret his mother, being possessed of it for her life, afterwards married Roger Wentworth, esq. whom she survived, and died possessed of it in the 18th year of that reign; upon which, by reason of the above attaint, the crown became entitled to it, the inquisition for which was found in the 4th year of that reign; immediately after which, the king granted it to Sir John Fogge, of Repton, who was comptroller of his household and one of his privy council, for his life. On king Richard III.'s accession to the crown, he took shelter in the abbey of Westminster, from whence he was invited by the king, who in the presence of a numerous assembly gave him his hand, and bid him be confident that from thenceforward he was sure to him in affection. This is rather mentioned, as divers chronicles have erroneously mentioned that he was an attorney, whom this prince had pardoned for forgery. He died possessed of it in the 17th year of Henry VII. where it remained till Henry VIII. granted it, at the very latter end of his reign, to John Tufton, esq. of Northiam, in Sussex, whose lands were disgavelled by the acts of 2 and 3 Edward VI. who afterwards resided at Hothfield, where he kept his shrievalty in the 3d year of queen Elizabeth. He was descended from ancestors who were originally written Toketon, and held lands in Rainham, in this county, as early as king John's reign; (fn. 3) one of whom was seated at Northiam, in Sussex, in king Richard the IId.'s reign, at which time they were written as at present, Tufton, and they continued there till John Tufton, esq. of Northiam, before-mentioned, removed hither. He died in 1567, and was buried in this church, leaving one son John Tufton, who resided at Hothfield-place, and in July, in the 16th year of queen Elizabeth, anno 1573, entertained the queen here, in her progress through this county. In the 17th year of that reign he was sheriff, and being a person of eminent repure and abilities, he was knighted by king James, in his 1st year, and created a baronet at the first institution of that order, on June 19, 1611. He married Olimpia, daughter and heir of Christopher Blower, esq. of Sileham, in Rainham, by whom he had three daughters; and secondly Christian, daughter and coheir of Sir Humphry Brown, a justice of the common pleas. He died in 1624, and was buried in this church, having had by her several sons and daughters. Of the former, Nicholas the eldest, succeeded him in title and estates. Sir Humphry was of Bobbing and the Mote, in Maidstone, and Sir William was of Vinters, in Boxley, both baronets, of whom further mention has already been made in the former parts of this history.
Sir Nicholas Tufton, the eldest son, was by letters patent, dated Nov. 1, anno 2 Charles I. created lord Tufton, baron of Tufton, in Sussex; and on August 5, in the 4th year of that reign, earl of the Isle of Thanet, in this county. He had four sons and nine daughters; of the former, John succeeded him in honors, and Cecil, was father of Sir Charles Tufton, of Twickenham, in Middlesex. John, the eldest son, second earl of Thanet, married in 1629 Margaret, eldest daughter and coheir of Richard, earl of Dorset, by his wife the lady Anne Clifford, sole daughter and heir of George, earl of Cumberland, and baroness of Clifford, Westmoreland, and Vescy, by which marriage these tithes descended afterwards to their issue. In the time of the commonwealth, after king Charles the 1st.'s death, he was, in 1654, appointed sheriff, and however inconsistent it might be to his rank, yet he served the office. He left six sons and six daughters, and was succeeded by Nicholas his eldest son, third earl of Thanet, who by the deaths of his mother in 1676, and of his cousin-german Alethea, then wife of Edward Hungerford, esq. who died s. p. in 1678, he became heir to her, and sole heir to his grandmother Anne, lady Clifford, and consequently to the baronies of Clifford, Westmoreland, and Vescy; dying s. p. he was succeeded as earl of Thanet and lord Clifford, &c. by his next brother John, who, on his mother's death, succeeded likewise by her will to her large estates in Yorkshire and Westmoreland, and to the hereditary in sheriffdoms of the latter and of Cumberland likewise, for it frequently happened in these hereditary sheriffdoms that female heirs became possessed of them, and consequently were sheriffs of those districts; but this was not at all an unusual thing, there being many frequent instances of women bearing that office, as may be seen in most of the books in which any mention is made of it, some instances of which the reader may see in the differtation on the office of sheriff, in vol. i. of this history. That part of their office which was incompatible for a woman to exercise, was always executed by a deputy, or shyre-clerk, in their name. But among the Harleian MSS. is a very remarkable note taken from Mr. Attorney-general Noys reading in Lincoln's inn, in 1632, in which, upon a point, whether the office of a justice of a forest might be executed by a woman; it was said, that Margaret, countess of Richmond, mother to king Henry VII. was a justice of peace; that the lady Bartlet, perhaps meant for Berkley, was also made a justice of the peace by queen Mary, in Gloucestershire; and that in Suffolk one ..... Rowse, a woman, did usually fit upon the bench at assizes and sessions among other justices, gladio cincta. John, earl of Thanet, died unmarried, as did his next brother earl Richard, so that the titles devolved to Thomas Tufton, who became the sixth earl of Thanet, and lord Clifford, which latter title was decreed to him by the house of peers in 1691. He left surviving issue five daughters and coheirs, the eldest of whom, Catherine, married Ed. Watson, viscount Sondes, son and heir of Lewis, earl of Rockingham; and the four others married likewise into noble families. He died at Hothfield in 1729, having by his will bequeathed several legacies to charitable purposes, especially towards the augmentation of small vicarages and curacies. He died without male issue, so that the titles of earl of Thanet and baron Tufton, and of baronet, descended to his nephew Sackville Tufton, eldest surviving son of his brother Sackville Tufton, fifth son of John, second earl of Thanet. But the title of baroness Clifford, which included those of Westmoreland and Vescy, upon the death of Thomas, earl of Thanet, without male issue, became in abeyance between his daughters and coheirs above-mentioned, and in 1734, king George II. confirmed that barony to Margaret, his third surviving daughter and coheir, married to Thomas Coke, lord Lovel, afterwards created earl of Leicester, which title is now again in abeyance by his death s. p. Which Sackville Tufton died in 1721, leaving Sackville the seventh earl of Thanet, whose eldest son of the same name succeeded him as eighth earl of Thanet, and rebuilt the present mansion of Hothfield-place, in which he afterwards resided, but being obliged to travel to Italy for his health, he died there at Nice in 1786, and was brought to England, and buried in the family vault at Rainham, in this county, where his several ancestors, earls of Thanet, with their countesses, and other branches of the family, lie deposited, from the time of their first accession to that title. He married Mary, daughter of lord John Philip Sackville, sister of the present duke of Dorset, by whom he had five sons and two daughters, Elizabeth; and Caroline married to Joseph Foster Barham, esq. Of the former, Sackville, born in 1769, succeeded him in honors; Charles died unmarried; John is M. P. for Appleby; Henry is M. P. for Rochester, and William. He was succeeded by his eldest son, the present right hon. Sackville Tufton, earl of Thanet, baron Tufton, lord of the honor of Skipton, in Craven, and baronet, and hereditary sheriff of the counties of Westmoreland and Cumberland, who is the present possessor of this manor and seat, and resides here, and is at present unmarried. (fn. 4)
The antient arms of Tufton were, Argent, on a pale, sable, an eagle displayed of the field; which coat they continued to bear till Nicholas Tufton, the first earl of Thanet, on his obtaining that earldom, altered it to that of Sable, an eagle displayed, ermine, within a bordure, argent; which coat was confirmed by Sir William Segar, garter, in 1628, and has been borne by his descendants to the present time. The present earl of Thanet bears for his coat of arms that last-mentioned; for his crest, On a wreath, a sea lion, seiant, proper; and for his supporters, Two eagles, their wings expanded, ermine.
SWINFORT, or Swinford, which is its more proper name, is a manor in this parish, lying in the southern part of it, near the river Stour, and probably took its name from some ford in former times over it here. However that be, it had formerly proprietors, who took their name from it; but they were never of any eminence, nor can I discover when they became extinct here; only that in king Henry V.'s reign it was in the possession of Bridges, descended from John atte Bregg, one of those eminent persons, whose effigies, kneeling and habited in armour, was painted in the window often mentioned before, in Great Chart church; and in this family the manor of Swinford continued till the latter end of king James I.'s reign, when it passed by sale from one of them to Sir Nicholas Tufton, afterwards created earl of Thanet, whose son John, earl of Thanet, before the 20th year of that reign, exchanged it for other lands, which lay more convenient to him, with his near neighbour Nicholas Toke, esq. of Godinton, in which family and name it has continued down, in like manner as that feat, to Nicholas Roundell Toke, esq. now of Godinton, the present possessor of it. A court baron is held for this manor.
FAUSLEY, or FOUSLEY, as it is now usually called, is the last manor to be described in this parish; its more antient name was Foughleslee, or, as it was usually pronounced, Faulesley; which name it gave to owners who in early times possessed and resided at it. John de Foughleslee, of Hothfield, was owner of it in the second year of king Richard II. and in his descendants this manor seems to have continued till about the beginning of queen Elizabeth's reign, when it passed by sale to Drury; from which name, at the latter end of it, this manor was conveyed to Paris, who immediately afterwards alienated it to Bull, who soon afterwards reconveyed it back again to the same family, whence, in the next reign of king James I. it was sold to Sir Nicholas Tufton, afterwards created earl of Thanet, in whose successors, earls of Thanet, it has continued down to the right hon. Sackville, earl of Thanet, the present owner of it.
Charities.
RICHARD PARIS, by deed in 1577, gave for the use of the poor, a rent charge of 16s. per annum, out of land called Hanvilles, in this parish; the trustees of which have been long ago deceased, and no new ones appointed since.
THOMAS KIPPS, gent. of Canterbury, by will in 1680, gave for the use of the same, an annual rent charge of 1l. out of lards in Great Chart.
RICHARD MADOCKE, clothier, of this parish, by will in 1596, ordered that the 11l. which he had lent to the parishioners of Hothfield, towards the rebuilding of their church, should, when repaid, be as a stock to the poor of this parish for ever.
SIR JOHN TUFTON, knight and baronet, and Nicholas his son, first earl of Thanet, by their wills in 1620 and in 1630, gave certain sums of money, with which were purchased eight acres of land in the parish of Kingsnoth, of the annual produce of 10l.
DR. JOHN GRANDORGE, by deed in 1713, gave a house and land in Newington, near Hythe, of the annual produce of 7l. which premises are vested in the earl of Thanet.
THOMAS, EARL OF THANET, and SACKVILLE TUFTON. Esq. grandfather of the present earl, by their deeds in 1720 and 1726, gave for a school mistress to teach 24 poor children, a rent charge and a house and two gardens, in Hothfield, the produce in money 20l. The premises were vested in Sir Penyston Lambe and Dr. John Grandorge, long since deceased; since which the trust has not been renewed; and the original writings are in the earl of Thanet's possession.
Such of the above benefactions as have been contributed by the Tufton family, have been ordered by their descendants to be distributed annually by the steward of Hothfield-place for the time being, without the interference of the parish officers, to such as received no relief from this parish; the family looking upon these rather as a private munisicence intended to continue under their direction.
The poor annually relieved are about twenty-five, casually as many.
HOTHFIELD is situated within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Charing.
¶The church, which is small, is dedicated to St. Mary, and consists of three isles and a chancel, having a low spire steeple, covered with shingles at the west end, in which are five bells, and though it stands on a hill, is yet very damp. There is not any painted glass in the windows of it. On the north side in it, is a monument of curious workmanship, having the figures of a man and woman, in full proportion, lying at length on it; at three corners of it are those of two sons and one daughter, kneeling, weeping, all in white marble; round the edges is an inscription, for Sir John Tufton, knight and baronet, and Olympia his wife, daughter and heir of Christopher Blower, esq. On the monument are the arms of Tufton, with quarterings and impalements; on the sides are two inscriptions, one, that he re-edified this church after it was burnt, at his own charge, and under it made a vault for himself and his posterity, and after that he had lived eighty years, departed this life; the other enumerating his good qualities, and saying that by his will he gave perpetual legacies to this parish and that of Rainham. This monument is parted off from the north isle by a strong partition of wooden balustrades, seven feet high. The vault underneath is at most times several feet deep with water, and the few coffins which were remaining in it were some years since removed to the vaults at Rainham, where this family have been deposited ever since. On the north side of the chancel is a smaller one, formerly called St. Margaret's chapel, now shut up, and made no use of. In the south isle is a memorial for Rebecca, wife of William Henman, esq. obt. 1739, and Anna-Rebecca, their daughter, obt. 1752; arms, A lion, between three mascles, impaling a bend, cotized, engrailed. This church, which is a rectory, was always esteemed an appendage to the manor, and has passed accordingly, in like manner with it, down to the right hon. Sackville, earl of Thanet, lord of the manor of Hothfield, the present patron of it.
This rectory is valued in the king's books at 17l. 5s. and the yearly tenths at 1l. 14s. 6d.
There was a pension of ten shillings paid from it to the college of Wye. In 1588 here were communicants one hundred and ninety-three, and it was valued at eighty pounds. In 1640, communicants one hundred and ninety, and valued at only sixty pounds per annum. There is a modus of two pence an acre of the pasture lands in the parish. There are twelve acres of glebe. It is now worth about one hundred and twenty pounds per annum.
Richard Hall, of this parish, by will in 1524, ordered that his feoffees should enfeoffe certain honest persons in his house and garden here, set beside the pelery, to the intent that the yearly serme of them should go to the maintenance of the rode-light within the church.
This church was burnt down in the reign of king James I. and was rebuilt at the sole expence of Sir John Tufton, knight and baronet, who died in 1624. His descendant Thomas, earl of Thanet, who died in 1729, gave the present altar-piece, some of the pewing, and the pulpit.
N. Chase photo
From what I've been able to gather, the 1970s seemed to have been a somewhat eclectic time on American railroads. It appears that the unusual was the norm. As an example we have an odd trio of locomotives at Conrail's Collinwood Yard in Cleveland in March of 1978. Closest to the camera is FP7a 4341, followed by Amtrak E8a 441 (which was a former L&N unit), which is then succeeded by Conrail GP40 3049 and then the nose of FP7a 4349 peeks out behind. Not exactly an everyday combination but I guess this was the 1970s.
Collinwood, OH
March 1978
Train of the Day
10/19/18
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I need to get this off my chest.
I love churchcrawling, the visiting and photographing of churches, I have learned so much, met some wonderful people and seen some wonderful buildings and details.
But sadly, it's those places that you receive a less that welcoming reception that sticks in your memory.
The one place I wasn't welcomed before last weekend was Dartford, where the warden wasn't going to let me take photos.
Se did in the end, and was very happy as I pointed out things she didn't know.
Anyway, on to St Dunstan.
We arrived from East Peckham, with me not expecting the church to be open, but it was.
THere was a one way system marked out on the floor, but as we were the only ones there, we didn't follow it. Nor did I see a board with requirements for being masked.
About halfway through the visit, a warden came and hissed at us that we should be masked. This we dd willingly, but it was clear she was angry with us.
I carried on taking shots.
A second came in and complained that the gate to the porch was open, we were not the last ones to enter the church, but there you go.
And as we left, our welcome clearly at en end, the second complained about people visiting the church.
It was open.
She didn't say it loudly, but loud enough to hear.
Sad then that St Dunstan is in my top ten Kentish churches, so full of detail and delight.
And it is a delight.
As usual I had not read up on what I would see inside the church, so was stunned by the Geary Family Pew, now so elevated above the tomb it sits on, that those look down as if from a balcony.
Here too is a fine wall mounted memorial, with the two looking at each other through eternity, while above, hatchments fill the wooden roof.
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Saxo-Norman, with a good early double-splayed window on the south face of the tower. The church is small, dark and welcoming, dating in the greater part from the fourteenth century. The north chapel contains the private pew of the Geary family. When the burial vault beneath became full the floor of the pew was raised by 8 ft to provide more burial space, creating a solid-floored galleried pew! It is panelled and benched and appears to be of expensive construction although closer inspection reveals that it is made of cheap wood grained and painted to look like oak! On the ceiling of the pew is a good collection of hatchments, and the top of the earlier monuments, lost when the floor was raised, may still be seen. Behind the altar is a series of continental wooden statues representing the Twelve Apostles which were a twentieth century gift from Mereworth Castle. The chancel screen is also twentieth century in date, and although it is a good example of craftsmanship it is patently the wrong size - its loft is far too high for the medieval door opening that still survives in the north wall!
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=West+Peckham
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WEST, ALIAS LITTLE PECKHAM.
EASTWARD from Shipborne lies the parish of West, alias Little Peckham, called in Domesday, PECHEHAM, and in the Textus Roffensis, PECHAM.
It has the appellation of West Peckham, from its situation westward of Great, or East Peckham, and of Little, from its smallness in regard to that parish. They both probably had their name from their situation, peac signifying in Saxon, the peke, or summit of an hill, and ham, a village, or dwelling-place.
THE QUARRY STONE HILLS bound the northern side of this parish, consequently the whole of it is within the district of the Weald. The soil is in general a stiff clay, and in the lower or southern part of it where it is mostly pasture, it is very rich grazing land. The northern part adjoining to the hill is covered with those woods, commonly called the Herst woods, from which there are several fine springs of water, which extend over the eastern parts of this parish, where, near the boundary of it, next to Mereworth, is the village, with the church. The northern side of this parish is watered by the stream which flows hither from Plaxtool, and from hence into the Medway at Brandt-bridge, a little above Yaldham, having turned two corn-mills in its course within this parish. The seat of Hamptons, now almost in ruins, stands near the east side of this stream, in a wild gloomy situation, and at a small distance, that of Oxenhoath, an antient brick building, situated on a rise of ground, having a most extensive prospect over the Weald, and again to the hills north-eastward, the ground about it is finely wooded, and is the greatest part of it exceeding rich pasture.
There were antiently two parks in this parish, both of which were disparked at the time Lambarde wrote his Perambulation in 1570.
There is a fair held in this village yearly, on the 16th of June.
This parish, with others in this neighbourhood, was antiently bound to contribute to the repair of the fifth pier of Rochester bridge.
LITTLE PECKHAM before the conquest was in the possession of earl Leofwine, who as well as his brother, king Harold, lost their lives in the fatal battle of Hastings. After which William the Conqueror gave it to Odo, bishop of Baieux, his half-brother, whom he likewise made earl of Kent, under the general title of whose lands it is thus entered in the survey of Domesday, taken about the year 1080.
Corbin holds Pecheham of the bishop (of Baieux). It was taxed at two sulings; the arable land is six carucates. In demesne there is one, and twelve villeins, having five carucates, and eight borderers, and five servants, and three acres of meadow, wood for the pannage of ten bogs. In the time of king Edward the Confessor, and afterwards, it was worth twelve pounds, now eight pounds, and yet it yields twelve pounds. The king has of this manor three dens, where four villeins dwell, and are worth forty shillings. Earl Leuin held it.
On the disgrace of the bishop of Baieux, about four years afterwards, this among the rest of his estates was confiscated to the crown.
In the reign of king John, the manor of West Peckham, then valued at fifteen pounds, was held in sergeantry, by a family of the name of Bendeville, by the service of bearing one of the king's goshawks, beyond sea, from the feast of St. Michael to that of the Purification, when the king demanded it, in lieu of all other services. Soon after which it came into the possession of a family who took their surname from it.
John de Peckham held it in the reign of king Henry III. and his descendant, John de Peckham, died possessed of it in the 21st year of king Edward I. holding it in capite, by the service above-mentioned. (fn. 1) Soon after which it passed into the possession of Robert Scarlet, who died possessed of it in the 33d year of that reign, but in the next of king Edward II. Adam at Broke was possessed of it. He died in the 11th year of it, both of them holding it in capite by the service mentioned above. And it appears, that in the latter year it was accounted a manor, and that there were here a capital messuage, pidgeon-house, rents of assize, and one hundred and eighty-four acres of land and wood.
His widow, Dionisia at Broke, died possessed of it in the 5th year of king Edward III. after which this manor seems to have been separated into moieties.
John de Mereworth, of Mereworth, died in the 39th year of that reign, possessed of a moiety of the manor of West Peckham, which he held of the king in capite, by the service before mentioned. Since which it has passed through the same tract of ownership that the manor of Mereworth has; as may be more fully seen hereafter in the description of it, and it is now, as well as that manor, in the possession of the right hon. Thomas Stapleton, lord le Despencer.
THE OTHER MOIETY of the manor of West Peckham, after the death of Dionisia at Broke, in the 5th year of king Edward III. came into the possession of Lionel, duke of Clarence, the king's third son, in right of his wife Elizabeth, sole daughter and heir of William de Burgh, earl of Ulster. She died in the 38th year of that reign, leaving by him an only daughter, Philippa, surviving her, who died in the 43d year of it, and the duke being then possessed of the moiety of this manor, which he held by the law of England, as of the inheritance of Elizabeth his late wife deceased, in capite by knight's service, Philippa, his daughter above-mentioned, then countess of March, was found to be his next heir. Upon which Edmund Mortimer, earl of March, her husband, had possession granted of it that year. Soon after which this moiety came into the possession of that branch of the family of Colepeper settled at Oxenhoath, in this parish, in which it remained till Sir John Colepeper, one of the judges of the common pleas, in the reign of king Henry IV. gave it to the knight's hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem, in the 10th year of that reign, anno 1408.
They established a preceptory within this manor, which continued part of their possessions till the general dissolution of their hospital in the 32d year of king Henry VIII. when this order was suppressed by an act then specially passed for that purpose, and all their lands and revenues were given by it to the king and his heirs for ever. It was at that time stiled the Preceptory, or commandery of West Peckham, otherwise called the Chantry Magistrale. A preceptory or commandery, was a convenient mansion belonging to these knights, of which sort they had several on their different estates, in each of which they had a society of their brethren placed to take care of their lands and rents in that respective neighbourhood.
This manor of West Peckham, for so it was then stiled, together with the preceptory, was valued at the above dissolution at 63l. 6s. 8d. annual revenue, and sixty pounds clear income.
King Henry VIII. in his 33d year, granted the fee of this manor, with it appurtenances to Sir Robert Southwell, of Mereworth, to hold in capite by knight's service, and he in the 35th year of that reign, alienated it to Sir Edmund Walsingham. In which name and family this manor continued till the latter end of the reign of king Charles I. when Sir Thomas Walsingham, of Scadbury, (fn. 2) alienated it, with Yokes-place, and other estates in this neighbourhood, to his son in law, Mr. James Master, of Yokes, in the adjoining parish of Mereworth, Sir Tho. Walsingham having married the widow of Mr. Nathaniel Master, Mr. James Master's father; since which it has passed in like manner as that seat, into the possession of the right hon. George Bing, viscount Torrington, the present possessor of it.
HAMPTONS is a seat in this parish, situated at the western extremity of it, which, as well as the borough of that name, is accounted within the hundred and manor of Great Hoo, near Rochester. In the reign of queen Elizabeth it was in the possession of John Stanley, gent. who resided here, being the son of W. Stanley, gent. of Wilmington, whose grandfather, John Stanley, gent. was of Wilmington, in Lancashire, and bore for his arms, Argent, on a bend, azure, three bucks heads caboshed, or, a chief gules. And it appears, by an antient pedigree of the family of Stanley, well drawn with the several bearings of arms, now in the hands of William Dalison, esq. that the Stanleys of this county were descended of the eldest branch of that family, being the direct descendants of William de Stanley, lord of Stanley, in Staffordshire, and of Stourton, in the 10th year of king Richard II. the elder brother to John de Stanley, lieutenant of Ireland, who by the daughter and heir of Latham, of Lancashire, was ancestor to the Stanleys, earls of Derby, of the lords Montegle, and of those of Holte and Wever. (fn. 3) He died possessed of this seat in 1616, and his eldest son Thomas Stanley, esq. of Hamptons, dying in 1668, was buried in this church near his father. He left issue an only daughter and heir Frances, married to Maximilian Dalyson, esq. of Halling, who in her right became entitled to this seat, to which he removed on her father's death.
This family of Dalyson is of good account for its antiquity in this kingdom. William d'Alanzon, the first ancestor recorded of it, is said to have landed in this kingdom with William the Conqueror, whose direct descendant in the eighth generation, was of Laughton, in Lincolnshire, and first wrote himself Dalyson. His great grandson, William Dalyson, esq. of Laughton, was sheriff and escheator of Lincolnshire, and died in 1546, leaving two sons and three daughters; George Dalyson, the eldest son, was of Laughton, whose grandson, Sir Roger Dalyson, was lieutenant-general of the ordnance, and was created a baronet in 1611.
William Dalyson, the second son, represented the county of Lincoln in parliament in 1554, and was afterwards one of the judges of the king s bench, in the time of queen Mary, whose coat of arms, Gules, three crescents, or, a canton ermine, are still remaining in a window in Grays-inn chapel, and in another window is a like coat belonging to Charles Dalyson, anno 1660. He died in 1558, and was buried in Lincoln cathedral. He left four sons, of whom William, the eldest, will be mentioned hereafter, and Thomas was of Greetwell, in Lincolnshire, and was afterwards knighted. Lloyd in his memoirs says, Sir Thomas Dalyson, of Lancashire, lost his life for his loyalty at Nazeby, and 12,000l. in his estate, and that there were three colonels more of this name in the king's army, viz. Sir Charles Dalyson, Sir Robert Dalyson, and Sir William Dalyson, who spent 130,000l. therein, being men of great command in their country, and bringing the strength thereof to the king's assistance.
William Dalyson, the eldest son, on his marriage with Silvester, daughter of Robert Dene, gent. of Halling, in this county, in 1573 settled in this county, and resided at the bishop's palace, in Halling,' where he died in 1585, and was buried in Clerkenwell church. His widow afterwards married William Lambarde, gent. of Greenwich, our Kentish perambulator, and dying in 1587, was buried in Halling church, leaving issue by both her husbands.
Maximilian Dalyson, esq. the direct descendant of William Dalyson, by Silvester his wife, resided, in like manner as his ancestors had done at Halling, but having married Frances, only daughter and heir of Thomas Stanley, gent. of Hamptons, in this parish, as has been before related, on the death of her father, he removed thither, where he died in 1671, and was buried in this church, as was Frances his wife, who survived him, and died in 1684. They left two surviving sons, Thomas, of whom hereafter; and Charles, who was of Chatham, gent.
Thomas Dalyson, esq. the eldest son, of Hamptons, was twice married; first, to Susan, daughter of Sir Thomas Style, bart. of Watringbury; and secondly, to Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Thomas Twisden, bart. of Bradborne, by the latter of whom he had no issue. He died in 1636, leaving by his first wife a daughter Elizabeth, who married John Boys, esq. of Hode-court, in this county, and Tho. Dalyson, esq. who was of Plaxtool, where he resided during his father's life-time, and afterwards removed to Hamptons, where he died in 1741, and was buried in Plaxtool chapel, as were his several descendants.
He married first Jane, only daughter of Richard Etherington, gent. of Essex, by whom he left Mary, who died unmarried, and Jane, who married Sir Jeffery Amherst, of Riverhead, afterwards created lord Amherst. His second wife was Isabella, second daughter of Peter Burrell, esq. of Beckenham, who surviving him, died in 1762. By her he had William, of whom further mention will be made hereafter. Frances Isabella married to William Daniel Master, esq. of Mereworth, and Thomas Dalison, clerk, A. M. Wm. Dalison, esq. the eldest son, is the present possessor of Hamptons, but resides at Plaxtool, and is as yet unmarried.
The family of Dalyson, of Hamptons, has a right to quarter the arms of Stanley, and with them the coats of Hooton, Houghton, Grosvenor and Harrington; and with those of Dalyson, the coats of Elkinton, Greenfield, Dighton and Blesby.
THE BOROUGH OF OXENHOATH in this parish, is within the hundred and manor of Hoo, near Rochester, at the court of which a borsholder is appointed for this borough yearly.
THE MANOR OF OXENHOATH, alias Toxenhoath, is held of the manor of Great Hoo, by the service of the yearly payment of a pair of gilded spurs, but the payment of them has been forborne many years. It was in antient times part of the possessions of a branch of the family of Colepeper, or Culpeper, as they were called, and sometimes wrote themselves, in which it continued till it became part of the possessions of Sir John Colepeper, justice of common pleas, in the 7th year of king Henry IV. in the 10th year of which reign, he gave his manor of West Peckham to the knights hospitallers, as has been mentioned before. He resided at Oxenhoath, of which he died possessed in, or soon after, the 3d year of king Henry V. and was buried in this church with Katherine his wife, by whom he left Sir William Culpeper, of Oxenhoath, sheriff of this county in the 5th year of king Henry VI. whose son, Sir John Colepeper, likewise resided here. His son, Sir William Colepeper, was of Aylesford, and sheriff in the 5th year of king Henry VI. By his wife, daughter of Ferrers, of Groby, he had three sons; Sir Richard Colepeper, of Oxenhoath, William, of Preston-hall, in Aylesford; and Jeffry.
Sir Richard Colepeper was sheriff in the 11th year of king Edward IV. and died possessed of Oxenhoath, in the 2d year of king Richard III. leaving by Isabella, daughter and coheir of Otwell Worceley, of Stamworth, three daughters, his coheirs, Margaret, married to William Cotton, third son of Sir Thomas Cotton, of Landwade, in Cambridgeshire; Joyce, to the lord Edmund Howard, younger son of Thomas, duke of Norfolk; and Elizabeth, to Henry Barham, of Teston. (fn. 4) And on the division of their inheritance, this estate was allotted to William Cotton, in right of his wife Margaret. He resided here, bearing for his arms, Sable, a chevron between three griffins heads erased, argent. (fn. 5) He was succeeded by his son, Sir Thomas Cotton, who alienated this manor to John Chowne, gent. of Fairlawne, and his great grandson, Sir George Chowne, of Fairlawne, intending to confine his possessions within Sussex, passed away this manor to Nicholas Miller, esq. of Horsnells Crouch, in Wrotham, sheriff of this county in the 8th year of king Charles I. who bore for his arms, Ermine, a fess gules, between three griffins heads erased, azure. He died in 1640, and was buried in Wrotham church, leaving by Jane his wife, daughter of John Polley, esq. of Preston, two surviving sons, Nicholas of Oxenhoath, and Mathew of Buckland, in Surry, and several daughters.
His eldest surviving son, Sir Nicholas Miller, resided at Oxenhoath, which he greatly, augmented and beautified. He died in 1658, leaving four sons and four daughters surviving, of whom Humphry became his heir; and Nicholas, to whom his grandfather, Ni cholas Miller, bequeathed his family seat of Crouch, in Wrotham, and other estates. Humphry Miller, esq. the eldest son, succeeded his father in this manor and seat, where he resided, and in 1660, was created a baronet, and in 1666 was sheriff of this county, and kept his shrievalty at Oxenhoath. He died in 1709, leaving a son and heir, Borlase, and a daughter, Elizabeth, who will be mentioned hereafter.
Sir Borlase Miller, bart. was of Oxenhoath, of which he died possessed in 1714, s. p. leaving his wife, Susanna, daughter of Thomas Medley, esq. of Sussex, surviving. On which this estate came by survivorship to Elizabeth his sister, before-mentioned, then the wise of Leonard Bartholomew, esq. of Rochester, who afterwards resided at Oxenhoath, who served the office of sheriff in 1713, and bore for his arms, Or, three goats heads erased, sable. He died in 1720, being buried with Elizabeth his wife in this church, and leaving three sons, Philip, Leonard, and Humphry; the eldest of whom, Philip Bartholomew, esq. possessed and resided at Oxenhoath. He first married the only daughter and heir of Mr. John Knowe, gent. of Ford, in Wrotham; by whom he had two sons, Leonard, and John-Knowe-Bartholomew, the latter of whom died before his brother, without issue. He married secondly Mary, younger daughter of Alexander Thomas, esq. of Lamberhurst, by whom he had a daughter Mary, married to Francis Geary, esq.
Philip Bartholomew died in 1730, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Leonard Bartholomew, esq. who was of Oxenhoath. He died without issue in 1757, and by will gave Oxenhoath, with his other estates in this county, to the second son, then unborn, of Francis Geary, esq. of Polesdon, in Surry, afterwards admiral of the royal navy, and created a baronet on August 10, 1782, by Mary, his half sister abovementioned, in tail male, with remainder to the admi ral's eldest son, in like tail, remainder to the family of Beaumont, in Yorkshire.
His second son before mentioned was afterwards born and christened William, and his eldest brother having died unmarried, became his father's heir, and succeeded on his death in 1796, to the title of baronet, being the present Sir William Geary, bart. who resides at Oxenhoath, of which he is the present possessor. He is M. P. for this county, and at present unmarried. The arms of Geary are, Gules, two bars argent, on each three mascles of the first, a canton ermine.
Charities.
DAME MARY CHOWNE gave by will in 1619, to be distributed to the poor of this parish on Michaelmas day yearly, the sum of 40l. with which a house was bought, which is vested in trustees, and now of the annual produce of 40s.
THOMAS STANLEY, esq. gave by deed in 1637, to an aged married pair for life, or an antient widow, a house and land, vested in the churchwardens and overseers, and now of the annual produce of 1l 10s.
THE REV. SAMUEL COOKE gave by will in 1637, to ten poor persons of this parish yearly, on Lady-day, a sum of money, vested in the minister of this parish, and now of the annual produce of 5l.
NICHOLAS JAMES and THOMAS DUNMOLL gave by their several wills in 1695, 1705, and 1708, the sums of 20s. each, to be paid out of lands in this parish, and to be distributed to the poor on Christmas day, which sums are vested in the churchwardens and overseers, and now of the like annual produce.
MILDMAY, EARL OF WESTMORELAND, gave a field, containing two acres, to the inhabitants of this parish, for a sporting place and for a more commodious way to the church.
WEST OR LITTLE PECKHAM is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Rochester and deanry of Malling.
The church, which is dedicated to St. Dunstan, is a small building, with a low pointed steeple.
King Edward I. in his 14th year, granted to the prior and convent of Ledis, in this county, the advowson of the church of Parva Pecham, to hold in free, pure, and perpetual alms; and he granted that they should hold it appropriated to their own use, whensoever they would, without any hindrance of him, his heirs and successors. (fn. 6)
In the 21st of the above reign, a quo warranto was brought before the justices itinerant against the prior and convent, to enquire by what right they possessed this church, then valued at forty pounds per annum, and formerly in the king's gift; and on their pleading the above grant, the jury gave it for them.
In the reign of king Edward III. the valuation of this church was, forty acres of the endowment of it, twenty shillings hay; twenty shillings tithe of pannage and herbage; ten shillings tithe of geese, calves, pigs, and mills; with oblations and other small tithes belonging to it.
Bishop Thomas de Brinton, by his instrument in 1387, the 11th year of king Richard II. granted licence to the prior and convent of Ledes to appropriate this church, then vacant and of their own patronage, to their own uses, saving a competent vicarage in it, the presentation of which should belong to them, which he ordained to consist of all small tithes, oblations, obventions, pannages, and all other things belonging to the altarage, except the tithe of hay itself of the parish wheresoever, excepting of twenty acres of meadow, then belonging to the earl of Gloucester, in the western part of the parish; the tithe of which twenty acres the vicar of the church for the time being, should take and have for ever. And that the vicars themselves should have the hall, with the chambers adjoining to it, and the garden, together with four acres of land, with the tithe arising from them, and two acres of wood of the demesne of the church, as they were bounded off; and also two shillings annual rent, which John, called le Kinge, of this parish, and his heirs, should pay to the vicars for ever, for land which he held of the fee of this church, together with the tithes arising from it; and that the vicars should take all tithes in the gardens of the whole parish, which were dug with the foot. But that the prior and convent should, for their portion, sustain all burthens, as well ordinary and extraordinary, happening to the church, saving the right, dignity and custom of his church of Rochester, and of all others.
The advowson and parsonage of West Peckham continued with the priory of Leeds till the time of its dissolution in the reign of king Henry VIII. when the same, together with all the lands and revenues of it, was surrendered into the king's hands, after which the king, by his dotation-charter, in his 33d year, settled this church of Peckham Parva, and the advowson of the vicarage, on his new-erected dean and chapter of Rochester, with whom they now remain.
On the intended dissolution of deans and chapters, after the death of king Charles I. the parsonage of Little Peckham was surveyed in 1649; when it appeared that it consisted of a barn, yard, &c. and twentyfive acres and an half of glebe land, of the improved rent of sixty pounds per annum; which premises were let anno 13 Charles I. to James, Elizabeth, and Duke Stonehouse, for the term of their lives, or the longest liver of them, by the dean and chapter of Rochester, at the yearly rent of six pounds. In which lease the advowson was excepted, and the lessess covenanted to repair the premises, and the chancel of the parish church. (fn. 7)
The present lessee of this parsonage, under the dean and chapter, is Sir William Geary, bart.
In the reign of queen Anne, the small tithes of this vicarage amounted to about twelve pounds per annum. It had then an augmentation of fourteen pounds per annum which had been given to it by the dean and chapter of Rochester about the year 1690. There was likewise a small augmentation to it from John Warner, bishop of Rochester, of about ten pounds per annum, but not fixed to it.
The vicarage is now a discharged living, of the clear yearly certified value of forty-five pounds, the yearly tenths of which are 14s. 7d.
¶In 1732 it was augmented by the governors of queen Anne's bounty, and by the benefactions of one hundred pounds per annum, from the trustees of Sir William Langhorne, bart. being part of his legacy towards the augmentation of small livings, and of 100l. 17s. 6d. by Henry Burville, vicar of this parish, with which, and fifty pounds, added by George Richards, the succeeding vicar, a farm of fifteen pounds a year was purchased in this neighbourhood. The vicarage, which is a handsome sashed brick house, situated near the church, was built by the bounty of Philip Bartholomew, esq. of Oxenhoath.
Wasn't expecting to get a cathedral in Southwark when we got off the tube at London Bridge.
Near the Borough Market is Southwark Cathedral.
It is the oldest Gothic church in London. Rebuilt in 1212 after fire damaged the Norman church.
In 1539 after the dissolution of the monastery it went from a Priory Church to a Parish Church.
Southwark Cathedral or The Cathedral and Collegiate Church of St Saviour and St Mary Overie, Southwark, London, lies on the south bank of the River Thames close to London Bridge.
It is the mother church of the Anglican Diocese of Southwark. It has been a place of Christian worship for over 1,000 years, but a cathedral only since 1905. The present building is mainly Gothic, from 1220 to 1420, although the nave is a nineteenth-century reconstruction in a thirteenth-century style.
Remarkably the main railway viaduct connecting London Bridge station to Blackfriars, Cannon Street and Charing Cross stations passes only 18 metres from the south-east corner of the cathedral, blocking the view from the south side. This was a compromise when the railway was extended along this viaduct in 1852; the alternative was to demolish the building completely to allow a more direct passage for the line. Borough Market is immediately to its south and the Hall of the Worshipful Company of Glaziers and Painters of Glass is on the riverside part of Montague Close on its north.
It is Grade I listed.
Cathedral Church of St Saviour and St Mary Overie (southwark Cathedral), Bermondsey
SOUTHWARK
TQ3280SE CATHEDRAL STREET
636-1/17/188 (East side)
02/03/50 Cathedral Church of St Saviour and
St Mary Overie (Southwark Cathedral)
I
Medieval Augustinian priory of St Mary Overie; Anglican
cathedral since 1905. C12 church damaged by fire 1212 and
rebuilt from 1220. East front, choir and retrochoir 1214-1260.
Choir ceiling and tower pinnacles by George Gwilt Jnr.
1818-27; transepts altered 1830 by Robert Wallace. Nave
replaced in 1839-40 by Henry Rose and again in 1890-97 by Sir
Arthur Blomfield in C13 style.
MATERIALS: knapped flint with stone dressing; tower and
transepts of ashlar.
PLAN: cruciform with central crossing (north and south
transepts with central tower); 7-bay nave, 5-bay presbytery,
3-bay ambulatory at east end.
EXTERIOR: lower stage of tower C14 (attributed to Henry
Yvele); 2 upper stages of the tower, C14-C15, each with
2-light transomed windows on each face. Early C19 pinnacles by
Gwilt. 5-bay E arm with clerestory, E window and flying
buttresses to E arm, Gwilt rebuilding of C14 additions.
Remains of C12 church in north wall of N transept. Main
entrance is the south-west door.
Tower of the cathedral.
Possible TAOP Assignment 2 colour shot.
Mixed dry flour and hot chocolate (for the darker specs) then sprinkling it (through a sieve) onto a fork - then removing the fork and you are left with the outline.
Brook lies about a quarter mile from the start of Wye Down, I can see it in the spring when I am orchid hunting, but never really thought about what the village was like, or even called.
After looking at John Vigar's book, I realised there were a few churches in east Kent I had missed out, and Brook was one. I dd not read up on it, so did not know what to expect. In fact, it seems of similar construction to Brabourne, with a stocky tower, and inside, sadly locked, the tower has a private chapel built into it.
But what is obvious is the hole in the north side facing the road. This clearly needed further inspection.
You reach the church via a bridge over a stream, presumably after which the village is named, and there is a path leading to the church door, which was unlocked.
On closer inspection, the recess in the north wall lead to a door, and inside the church, there was an oval door. This is a hagioscope (or squint), but I have never seen one in the outside wall of a church before.
Once home, I did some research, and found out about anchorites, people who decided to leave the cares of the world, lived like hermits attached to a church, with a window into the church so to witness the services.
If this wasn't remarkable enough, elsewhere inside the church had been re-ordered in the 1980s so it now resembles a 12th century Norman church, and has a remarkable collection of wall paintings on top of all that.
To call it breathtaking would be an understatement.
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An anchorite or anchoret (female: anchoress; adj. anchoritic; from Ancient Greek: ἀναχωρητής, anachōrētḗs, "one who has retired from the world",[2][3] from the verb ἀναχωρέω, anachōréō, signifying "to withdraw", "to retire"[4]) is someone who, for religious reasons, withdraws from secular society so as to be able to lead an intensely prayer-oriented, ascetic, and—circumstances permitting—Eucharist-focused life. Whilst anchorites are frequently considered to be a type of religious hermit,[5] unlike hermits they were required to take a vow of stability of place, opting instead for permanent enclosure in cells often attached to churches. Also unlike hermits, anchorites were subject to a religious rite of consecration that closely resembled the funeral rite, following which—theoretically, at least—they would be considered dead to the world, a type of living saint. Anchorites had a certain autonomy, as they did not answer to any ecclesiastical authority other than the bishop.[6]
The anchoritic life is one of the earliest forms of Christian monastic living. In the Roman Catholic Church today, it is one of the "Other Forms of Consecrated Life" and governed by the same norms as the consecrated eremitic life.[7] From the 12th to the 16th centuries, female anchorites consistently outnumbered their male equivalents, sometimes by as many as four to one (in the 13th century), dropping eventually to two to one (in the 15th century). The gender of a high number of anchorites, however, is not recorded for these periods.
The anchoritic life became widespread during the early and high Middle Ages.[9] Examples of the dwellings of anchorites and anchoresses survive. A large number of these are in England. They tended to be a simple cell (also called anchorhold), built against one of the walls of the local village church.[10] In the Germanic lands, from at least the 10th century, it was customary for the bishop to say the office of the dead as the anchorite entered his cell, to signify the anchorite's death to the world and rebirth to a spiritual life of solitary communion with God and the angels. Sometimes, if the anchorite were walled up inside the cell, the bishop would put his seal upon the wall to stamp it with his authority. Some anchorites, however, freely moved between their cell and the adjoining church.[11]
Most anchoritic strongholds were small, perhaps no more than 12 to 15 ft (3.7 to 4.6 m) square, with three windows. Viewing the altar, hearing Mass, and receiving Holy Communion was possible through one small, shuttered window in the common wall facing the sanctuary, called a "hagioscope" or "squint". Anchorites would also provide spiritual advice and counsel to visitors through this window, as the anchorites gained a reputation for wisdom.[12] Another small window would allow access to those who saw to the anchorite's physical needs, such as food and other necessities. A third window, often facing the street, but covered with translucent cloth, would allow light into the cell.[6]
Anchorites were supposed to remain in their cell in all eventualities. Some were even burned in their cells, which they refused to leave even when pirates or other attackers were looting and burning their towns.[13] They ate frugal meals, spending their days both in contemplative prayer and interceding on behalf of others. Anchorites' bodily waste was managed by means of a chamber pot.[14]
In addition to being the crucial physical location wherein the anchorite could embark on the journey towards union with God and the culmination of spiritual perfection, the anchorhold also provided a spiritual and geographic focus for many of those people from the wider society who came to ask for advice and spiritual guidance. It is clear that, although set apart from the community at large by stone walls and specific spiritual precepts, the anchorite also lay at the very centre of that same community. The anchorhold was clearly also a communal 'womb' from which would emerge an idealized sense of a community's own reborn potential, both as Christians and as human subjects.[8]
An idea of their daily routine can be gleaned from an anchoritic Rule. The most widely known today is the early 13th century text known as Ancrene Wisse.[15] Another, less widely known, example is the rule known as De Institutione Inclusarum written in the 12th century, around 1160–62, by Aelred of Rievaulx for his sister.[16] It is estimated that the daily set devotions detailed in Ancrene Wisse would take some four hours, on top of which anchoresses would listen to services in the church, and engage in their own private prayers and devotional reading.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anchorite
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Since its re-ordering in 1986 Brook church has shown the visitor what a church interior might have looked like in the twelfth century. The chancel is empty except for the medieval stone altar, discovered a few years ago in the churchyard, and now set on two ragstone pillars. The church is large, for throughout the medieval period it belonged to Christ Church, Canterbury. There is much Norman work to be seen, including the three-stage west tower which contains a purpose-built chapel or `westwerk`. The church has a comprehensive series of thirteenth-century wall paintings, overlain by some fourteenth- and seventeenth-century murals, although the early paintings are not as well preserved as in some other churches. In the north wall of the chancel is a small almond-shaped hagioscope to the exterior. It may have connected to an anchorite's cell, but is more likely to have been associated with the exposition of a relic on the high altar. It is certainly not a low side window as the tower bell would have been used for this purpose.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Brook
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LIES the next parish southward from Wye. It is written in antient records both Broc and Broke, and takes its name from its low situation on the stream which runs through it, baroca in Saxon signifying a rivulet. It seems once to have been accounted a hundred of itself; but at the time of taking the survey of Domesday, in the year 1080, it was reputed to be in the hundred of Wye, as it is now.
The parish is very small, and is but little known, lying out of the way of all traffic and throughfare. It is not more than a mile across each way, and has in it about twenty houses. It lies very low and wet, in a deep miry soil. There is some coppice wood in the southern part of it, about forty-three acres, of which twenty-eighty belong to the dean and chapter of Canterbury. The village is nearly in the centre of the parish, having the church at the north end of it. There is a small hamlet, called Little Bedleston, consisting of only two houses, in the eastern part of the parish, close under the high ridge of hills called Braborne-downs, to the foot of which this parish extends eastward.
BROOKE was given, long before the conquest, by Karlemann, a priest, to the church of Canterbury; but it was wrested from the church in the troublesome times which soon after followed, by reason of the Danish wars, and it continued in lay hands at the accession of the Conqueror; soon after which it appears to have been in the possession of Hugh de Montfort, from whom archbishop Lanfranc recovered Brooke again to his church in the solemn assembly of the whole county, held on this occassion by the king's command, at Pinenden-heath in 1076; and then on the division which the archbishop made of the lands of his church, this manor was allotted by him, among others, to the share of the priory of Christ-church, Canterbury; accordingly it is thus entered among the possessions of it, in the survey of Domesday, under the general title of Terra Monachorum Archiepi, i. e. lands of the monks of the archbishops;
In the hundred of Wi, the archbishop himself holds one manor, which was taxed at one suling, in the time of king Edward the Confessor, and now, for half a suling. The arable land is two carucates. In demesne there is one, and three villeins, with four borderers having two carucates and an half. There is a church, and one mill of two shillings, and two servants, and seven acres of meadow. Wood for the pannage of ten hogs. In the time of king Edward the Confessor, and afterwards, it was worth fifty shillings, now four pounds.
This manor was soon after this let to farm, by the monks, to Robert de Rumene, at the above rent, and was allotted de cibo eorum, that is, to the use of their refectory; and the possession of it was confirmed to them both by king Henry I. and II. (fn. 1) King Edward II. in his 10th year, granted to the prior and convent free warren in all their demesne lands in Broke, among other places which they were in possession of at the time of the charter of liberties granted to them by his grandfather Henry III. about which time this manor was valued at 22l. 1s. 10d. In which state it afterwards continued till the dissolution of the priory of Christchurch in the 31st year of Henry VIII. when it came into the king's hands, where it did not remain long, for the king settled it by his dotation-charter, in his 33d year, on his new-erected dean and chapter of Canterbury, part of whose possessions it still remains.
The demesne lands have been constantly let by the dean and chapter on a beneficial lease, at the yearly rent of 13l. 6s. 8d. in money, and four quarters of wheat. The present lessee is Mr. John Berry, of Newbery, Berkshire; but the manerial rights they retain in their own hands.
A court baron is regularly held for this manor. There are no parochial charities.
BROOKE is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Bridge. The church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, is but small, consisting of one isle and a chancel, with a low square tower at the west end, in which are two bells. There are no memorials of any account in it.
The church of Brooke has always been accounted an appendage to the manor, and as such passed with it from the priory of Christ-church into the hands of the crown, and from thence to the dean and chapter of Canterbury, who are the present patrons of it. The woods belonging to the dean and chapter here, claim an exemption from paying tithes.
¶This rectory is valued in the king's books at 7l. 7s. 3d. and is of the clear yearly certified value of thirty pounds. In 1588 it was valued at thirty pounds. Communicants ninety-two. In 1640 at sixty pounds. Communicants sixty. There are now only ten communicants. In 1724 it was augmented with the sum of 200l. given by the governors of queen Anne's bounty, on the gift of 100l. from the dean and chapter of Canterbury, and the like sum from Dr. Godolphin, dean of St. Paul's; with which there was purchased a piece of land, containing nine acres, called Great Chequer field, adjoining to the town of Wye.
1964 Ferrari 250 LM expected to net $12-15 million at RM's NY auction
If you're one of the very fortunate souls that has $12 to $15 million burning a very large hole in your pocket, we've found the perfect way to liberate yourself from the burden of so much money - buy this Ferrari, which is being put up for auction. It's a supremely rare Ferrari 250 LM, the 24th member of a 32-car run, that rolled off the assembly line on what we imagine was a brilliant, sunny Italian summer's day in July of 1964.
Officially known as Chassis 6107, this 250 LM is rare because unlike its brothers, it wasn't originally bought to be a race car. Its first owner used it more or less as a toy, both around town and on the infamous Mulholland Drive, in California. After a pair of owners, it found its way into the hands of an Ecuadorian pair, who kicked off its racing career. Its best result was at the 1968 24 Hours of Daytona, where it finished eighth overall and first in class, although subsequent runs at Daytona and Sebring were less successful. Its most recent owner was a Japanese collector, who purchased the car in 1983 and has had it on display ever since.
The car has been, according to the press release, "gently freshened," and shows just 10,000 miles on a numbers-matching powertrain. It's this originality that separates this 250 LM from the other, hardened racers that made up the 32 original cars. It doesn't have quite the provenance or rarity of a certain Ferrari 250 GTB/4 NART Spider, but its status as a competitor from the glory days of road racing and it's achingly handsome sheetmetal make this a rare car in its own right.
Interested buyers should make their way to RM Auctions' New York event, set to kick off on November 21. This rare 250 LM will be lot number 141, and will be sold on the first day of the show. Take a look below for a detailed press release on Chassis 6107's history, and be sure to check out the gallery of the rare racer up top.
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Expect a Circus - © 2017 – Robert N. Clinton (aka CyberShutterbug)
Some of the tens of thousand of protesters protesting at President Donald Trump's speech in Phoenix on August 22, 2017
Heritage/Ride and Stride weekend was a bit hit and miss, to be expected with COVID, I suppose. But churches next to each other open and closed, or open but with different restrictions or no restrictions.
But a 50% open rate wasn't bad.
I was last here in January, when mist shrouded St Michael and the view. It looked grim.
Fast forward to a sunny September lunchtime, and I arrived with low expectations.
A husband and wife team were clearing the summer growth from the path leading to the porch. I stood still until I was noticed by the wife.
She smiled.
The husband carried on strimming. It was a petrol driven one, and was loud.
He stopped, and I saw he had no ear protection and the motor was beside his left ear. I told him to be careful.
You sound like my wife, he said.
Is the church open, I asked.
It is.
Can I go in?
Of course.
We've had a new carpet paid, nice and red.
Indeed they had.
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This is an enigma! The medieval church, of which the tower with its fine 14th century west window, survives, was destroyed by fire in the late 18th century. The story of the fires is recorded in Hasted`s History of Kent. It was rebuilt by Henry Holland as a classical box with gothic detailing – for instance the vestry lancet – but this was mostly undone by two Victorian restorations which combined to turn the church into a more standard building. The interior is barn like but the fine glass by Barraud and Westlake is all of a date around 1900, though some more recent repairs have been really botched with naïve faces much in evidence. The pulpit is fine work of the Victorian restoration with curving staircase and on the whole nothing jars. It is a building of two periods – each recorded by plaques and boards – and the crumbling ragstone exterior with galletted blocks gives the impression that it is waiting for the next period of change.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Chart+Sutton
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CHART SUTTON.
THE next parish southward from Langley is Chart Sutton, or as it should be more properly called, Chart by Sutton, written in Domesday, Certh.
THIS PARISH is but small, the lower or southern ridge of Quarry-hills divides the upper and lower parts of it, the latter is in the district of the Weald, where the country is low and flat, abounding with broad hedge rows, filled with large and spreading oaks. It is exceeding wet and miry in winter, the soil being a deep stiff elay. At the foot of the hill there rises a stream, which having turned a mill, flows from thence southward across this parish, till it joins the branch of the Medway just above Herefeed-bridge; on and about the hill the soil consists of the quarry-stone, thinly covered with a loam, being exceedingly fertile for corn, fruit, and hops. Just above the summit of the hill is the village and church, with Chart-place adjoining to the church-yard; beyond which northward the soil becomes less fertile, being a hungry red earth mixed with flints, which continues till it joins the parish of Langley.
The mention made in the record of Domesday of the three arpends of vineyard in this parish, ought not to be passed by unnoticed here, this being one of several instances of there having been vineyards in this county in very early times. I mean plantations of the grapevine; for I can by no means acquiese in the conjecture, that Vineæ universally meant plantations of apples and pears, at least so far as relates to this county, where the latter were not introduced at the time, nor for some time after the taking of the survey of Domesday. This opinion is further confirmed by the instance of Hamo, bishop of Rochester, who, when Edward II. in his 19th year, was at Bokinsold, in this county, sent that prince a gift both of wine and grapes, from his vineyard at Halling, near Rochester, the episcopal palace where he then resided. These vineyards being likewise measured by the arpend, the same measure that they usually were in France, shews that when the vine was brought from thence and cultivated here, the same kind of measure was continued to the plantations of them, a measure different from that of any other kind of land. Sir Robert Atkins, in his History of Gloucestershire, has indeed given two instances from records in the reigns of king John and king Edward II. to prove the contrary, which might suit exceeding well with the language of his countrymen, and the bleak county of Gloucester, where the grape-vine had never been seen, and the only beverage was that of the apple and pear, which they had dignisified with the appellation of wine. In my memory there have been two exceeding fine vineyards in this county, one at Tunbridgecastle, and the other at Hall-place, in Barming, near Maidstone, from which quantities of exceeding good and well-flavored wine have been produced. This parish of Chart, among others in the same situation, on the side of the quarry hills, is peculiarly adapted to the planting of vines, as well from the warm and nutritive quality of the soil, as its genial aspect, being entirely sheltered from the north and east, and facing the south on the declivity of the hill.
CHART was part of those possessions given by William the Conqueror to his half-brother Odo, bishop of Baieux, under the general title of whose lands it is thus entered in that record.
The same Adam Fitz Hubert holds of the bishop of Baieux, Certh. It was taxed at three sulings. The arable land is eight carucates. In demesne there is one, and twenty villeins, with five borderers having six carucates. There is a church and eight servants, and six acres of meadow. Wood for the pannage of fifty hogs. There are three arpends of vineyard, and a park of beasts of the forest. In the time of king Edward the Confessor, and afterwards, and now, it was and is worth twelve pounds. Alnod Cilt held it.
Four years after the taking the above-mentioned survey, the bishop of Baieux was disgraced, and all his estates were confiscated to the crown.
This estate afterwards became the property of Baldwin de Betun, earl of Albermarle, likewise lord of the manor of Sutton Valence, to which this estate seems to have been accounted an appendage, and it afterwards continued with it, in a like succession of ownership, down to Sir Christopher Desbouverie, who soon after his coming into the possession of it in 1708, on a spot which he had purchased of others, on which there was then only a mean cottage, built for himself a mansion near the church here, where he afterwards resided. (fn. 1) He died possessed of it in 1733, leaving two sons, who both died without issue, and also two daughters, who became their brother's heirs, and on the partition of their inheritance in 1752, this manor was, among others in this neighbourhood, allotted to the share of the youngest, Mrs. Elizabeth Bouverie, now of Teston, who continues owner of it.
NORTON-PLACE is an antient manor and mansion in this parish, though now and for many years since made use of only as a farm-house, situated about half a mile northward from Chart-place. It was antiently the property and residence of the family of Norton, to whom it gave name; and in the south windows of this church there were formerly the essigies of Stephen Norton, who lived in king Richard II.'s reign, with his arms, Argent, a chevron between three crescents azure, on his tabard or surcoat, and Philipott says that he had found in a tournament of the Kentish gentlemen one of this name, in a tabard of the arms above-mentioned, encountering one Christmas, of East Sutton, not far distant, who was in like manner habited in a surcoat charged with his arms, expressive of his name, viz. Gules, upon a bend sable, three wassail bowls, or; which coat was likewise depicted in the south windows of Sutton church. But the partitions inherent to gavelkind, so diminished the patrimony of this family, that in the reign of queen Elizabeth, and afterwards, they were obliged to sell off several parts of it at different times, all which came at length into the possession of Sir Ed ward Hales, created a baronet in 1611, whose grandson and heir of the same name in 1660 purchased of the two coheirs of the family of Norton, married to Denne and Underwood, the seat itself, with the remainder of the land belonging to it, by a fine then levied by them and their husbands for that purpose. His trustees about the year 1670, conveyed it, with the manor of Sutton Valence and Chart before-mentioned, and sundry other premises, to Sir William Drake, of Amersham, with which it was in like manner sold, about the year 1708, to Sir Christopher Desbouverie, whose daughter, Mrs. Elizabeth Bouverie, of Teston, after the death of her two brothers, and a partition of her father's estates between herself and her sister, is now entitled to it.
WALTERS-FOLLY, in the den of Ivetigh, now vulgarly called THE FOLLY, is an estate situated in the southern part of this parish, about a mile below the summit of the hill. It was antiently the property of the family of Ivetigh, antiently spelt Evythye, who implanted their name on it, as they did on other lands in this parish, still called by their name; and though the deeds of this estate, which mention them as possessors of it, do not reach higher than the reign of king Henry VI. yet, undoubtedly, they were owners of it long before.
In the above-mentioned reign, however, this estate was alienated by one of that name to Robert Mascall, who died possessed of it in the 4th year of Edward IV. By his will, dated Nov. 25, that year, he willed his body to be buried in the church yard of this parish. He devised 6s. 8d. towards the pavement of the church, and to the leading of it twenty shillings; all his lands and tenements to his wife, for her life, remainder to his son Thomas, his daughter Elizabeth mentioned in it. His son Thomas Mascall resided here, and some years after his father's death sold it to Wm. Lambe, who changed the name of it to Lambden; in his descendants, who bore for their arms, Sable, on a fess or, two mullets of the field, between three cinquefoils ermine, it continued till it was at length sold to Perry, descended from those of Worcestershire, and it remained in that name till the reign of king Charles I. when Mr. James Perry, of Lenham, dying s.p. his three daughters, Elizabeth, married to Mr. Thomas Petley, of Filston; Anne and Mary became his coheirs, and entitled to this estate, which they afterwards joined in the sale of to Walter, who rebuilt the house on it, which afterwards gained the name of Walter's folly; from one of his descendants it was purchased, in the reign of queen Anne, by Sir Samuel Ongley, of London, who gave it, together with an estate called Elderden, lying at a small distance from it, by will to his nephew, Samuel Ongley, esq. of Old Warden, in Bedfordshire, in tail: on whose death s. p. this estate came by the entail abovementioned to his nephew Robert Henley, esq. who took upon him the name of Ongley, and was in 1776 created baron Ongley, of Ireland, he died in 1785, and his son Robert lord Ongley, is the present owner of it.
ALMNERY-GREEN, usually called Almery green, is a place in the western part of this parish, where there is an estate called Haddis tenement, alias Almery, which was for many generations the residence of the family of Hadde, called in antient writings likewise Le Hadde. Robert Hadde lived here in the reign of king Henry III. as did his son William le Hadde in the next reign of Edward I. (fn. 2) At length about the latter end of the reign of king Edward III. this family divided into two branches, of which Robert le Hadde, the eldest son and heir, settled at Frinsted, where his descendants continued for many generations, and the youngest son inherited this family seat at Chart, which remained in the possessions of his descendants, till Thomas Haddys, in the reign of king Henry VII. leaving two daughters his coheirs, Margaret married first Wm. Wright and afterwards Nicholas Harpur; and Catherine, who married Thomas Bidlake, of Devonshire, this house and estate in Chart became the property of his eldest daughter Margaret, who entitled her husband, William Wright, to it; and he, anno 17 Henry VII. conveyed it to Roger Morys, of Ledes, and after some intermediate owners, it came into the possession of Robert Baker, who in 1612 sold it to Sir Edward Hales, bart. The trustees of whose grandson, Sir Edward Hales, bart. sold it with the manor of Sutton Valence, and his other estates in this parish, to Sir William Drake, of Amersham, with which they were in like manner afterwards sold to Sir Christopher Desbouverie; and on the partition between his two daughters and coheirs, these premises were alloted, with other lands in this and the neighbouring parishes, to Anne, the eldest daughter, married to John Hervey, esq. afterwards of Beechworth, who died possessed of them in 1757, and his grandson Christopher Hervey, esq. is now entitled to them.
There is an estate on ALMNERY-GREEN, which was formerly part of the possessions of the priory of Ledes, and most probably belonging to the almnery of that house, gave name to this place. It the remained with it till the reign of Henry VIII. when the priory being dissolved, this estate came, with the rest of the possessions of it, into the king's hands, and was settled by him in the 32d year of his reign, on his new-erected dean and chapter of Rochester, who are now entitled to the inheritance of it.
LESTED is an antient seat, situated on the northern side of the high road leading from Cocks-heath to Langley-heath, near Chart corner.
It was formerly part of the possessions of the family of Potman. who were possessed of other estates in this parish as has been already mentioned and it continued with them till Sir Richard Potman sold it to Simon Smyth, gent. who resided at Buckland, in Maidstone, whose son Simon was of Boughton Monchensie, and had the arms of his family confirmed to him by Camdem, clarencieux, in 1650. (fn. 3). He left a son Simon, of Lested, (fn. 4) whose widow afterwards remarried George Curteis, esq. sheriff of this county in 1651, when he resided here in her right.
In the descendants of Simon Smyth this estate descended down to the Rev. John Smyth, vicar of this parish, and rector of Hastingleigh, who died in 1732, and was succeeded by his son John Smyth, esq. whose widow, Mrs. Elizabeth Smyth survived him, and afterwards resided in it. She was daughter of Ralph Whitfield, esq. major of the Welsh fuzileers, by whom he left four daughters, Felicia, Elizabeth, Anna Maria, and Dorothea, his coheirs, and they or their respective heirs are now entitled to it.
CHENEYS-COURT is a reputed manor here, which appears in very early times to have been called Hadenesham, and to have been in the possession of Sir Robert de Shurland, a man of great eminence in the reign of king Edward I. who leaving an only daughter and heir, she carried this estate, with other large inheritanbe, in marriage to William de Cheney, of Patricksborne, in whose descendants it continued so long, that they implanted their name on it; at length Sir Thomas Cheney passed it away to John Iden, who died possessed of it in the 4th year of Henry VIII. and one of his descendants, leaving two daughters and coheirs, one of whom married Browne, and the other Barton, the latter of them, in right of his wife, possessed this estate, and in that name it continued till it was at length alienated to Heyward, for Rowland Heyward had the queen's licence, anno 16 Elizabeth, to alienate the messuage and manor, called Chenye-court, to John Long, of Tunbridge; after which it passed to Wolett, and thence to Jordan, and afterwards to that branch of the family of Fane, who were earls of Westmoreland, in which it continued till John, earl of Westmoreland, dying in 1762, s. p. this, among his other estates in this county, is at length, by the limitations of his will, come to the right hon. Thomas, lord le Despencer, who continues the present possessor of it.
There is the appearance of an old manor-pound belonging to it; but there has been no court held for this manor in the memory of man.
THE FAMILY OF SPENCER once possessed an estate in this parish, and resided here for some generations; one of whom John Spencer, esq. was of Chart Sutton, and bore for their arms, Argent, a fess engrailed, in chief three lions rampant, gules, at the latter end of the reign of king Henry VIII. as was his son of the same name afterwards. He left two sons, John and Nicholas, and five daughters, who on their elder brother's death s. p. became his coheirs; and in the beginning of the reign of king Charles I. joined with their respective husbands in the sale of their inheritance in this parish, to Sir Edward Hales, bart. it afterwards passed into the possession of Sir William Drake, and then to Sir Christopher Desbouverie, in whose descendants it has continued in like manner as the rest of his estates in this parish to the present time.
Charities.
RICHARD MASCALL gave by will in 1599, for the better support of the poor the yearly sum of 40s. in land in Ashford, vested in Edward Finch Hatton, esq. and now of the annual produce of 1l. 11s.
JOAN MASCALL gave by will in 1598, for the like use, the annual sum of 10s. in land in this parish, vested in Wm. Spong, and of that annual produce.
The poor constantly maintained by this parish are yearly in number about thirty-five, casually about twenty.
CHART SUTTON is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Sutton,
The church, which stands near the summit of the hill, at a very small distance from Sutton Valence, is dedicated to St. Michael.
This church has been twice set on fire by lightning: the first time, a few years ago, when it was fortunately soon extinguished; the last time was on April 23, 1779, about seven o'clock in the morning, when in a dreadful storm of thunder, the lightning set fire to the beautiful spire steeple of it, and in about three hours time burnt that and the whole building to ashes, excepting the bare walls; since which it has been rebuilt from a plan of Mr. Henry Holland, junior, architect, at the cost of more than 1,300l. collected by a brief throughout the county from house to house, and a liberal contribution made by the neighbouring gentry and clergy.
The church of Chart was given to the priory of Leeds, soon after the foundation of it; the tithes of every kind, arising from the demesnes of the lord of the parish of Chart, and also twenty shillings annual pension from the church, to be paid by the hands of the rector of it, for ever, for the maintenance of the infirmary of the priory, being assigned and granted by archbishop Richard to the canons of the priory. (fn. 5)
In the year 1320, Walter, archbishop of Canterbury, appropriated this church to the priory, and then admitted William de Shoreham to the vicarage of this church; at which time he, by his instrument, endowed the vicarage of it as follows: first, he ordained and decreed, that every vicar, for the time being, should receive all oblations and obits according to the altar of the church, which the rectors of it used of old to receive, together with the tithes of wool, lambs, calves, hogs, hay, flax, hemp, mills, pears, apples, milk, milk-meats, sheep, and of whatever was planted and sowed in gardens; and also, that the prior and convent should bear and exonerate all burthens, ordinary and extraordinary, happening to the church, as well in books, vestments, reparations and rebuildings of it, as often as need should require, the procurations of the archdeacon, and other burthens antiently belonging to it, or which might in future be laid on it. And he further decressed, that the prior and convent should assign of the soil of the church, one acre and an half of land, lying conveniently for a dwelling for the vicar, and should build for him on it a convenient house for him and his successors to dwell in, and that they should pay to him and his successors, as an augmentation of his living, forty shillings sterling yearly.
On the dissolution of the priory of Leeds, in the reign of Henry VIII. this parsonage, with the advowson of the vicarage, came into the hands of the crown, and was by the king settled in his 32d year, on his newerected dean and chapter of Rochester, part of whose inheritance it remains at this time.
¶On the abolition of deans and chapters, this parsonage was surveyed by order of the state in 1649, when it was returned, that the parsonage, or manorhouse of the parsonage, consisted of a hall, a parlour, kitchen, cellar, buttery, five chambers, three garrets, one dairy-house, barn and stable, with all the tithes thereto belonging, and the tithes of as much of Suttonpark as lay within the precincts of Chart parish, with a court and barn-yard; the whole being valued at fifty pounds per annum, and let by the dean and chapter, anno 26 Charles I. by lease to Sir Edward Hales, bart. and Sir John Hales, his son, for twenty-one years, at the yearly rent of 13l 11s. 8d. and one good and seasonable brawn every Christmas, but that the premises were worth over and above, upon improvement, 67l. 3s. 10d. and that the tenant was bound to repair and maintain the chancel of the parish church. At which time the vicarage was valued at thirty-five pounds clear yearly income. (fn. 6)
Among the archives of the dean and chapter of Canterbury is a definitive sentence, made at Cranbrook, anno 1400, concerning the custom and method of taking tithes in this parish, made by Thomas, archbishop of Canterbury, in a cause of tithes, between the prior and convent of Ledes and John Hadde, parishioner of this church.
Mrs. Elizabeth Bouverie, of Teston, is the present lessee of this parsonage. The advowson of the vicarage is reserved by the dean and chapter, in their own hands.
The vicarage is valued in the king's books at 8l. 12s. 8½d. and the yearly tenths at 17s. 3¾d. (fn. 7) It is now of the clear yearly certified value of 47l. 11s. 9¼d.
In 1640 it was valued at thirty pounds per annum, Communicants, 212.
The Rev. John Smyth, vicar gave by will in 1732, two hundred pounds as an augmentation, to enable it to receive the benefit of the like sum from queen Anne's bounty, (fn. 8) with which a small farm of twenty pounds per annum in Ashford parish, has been purchased for the benefit of the vicar and his successors.
From the early 50's until a fire in the 80's this was the site of Gold Star Studios, then the center of rock music recording on the West Coast. Located on Santa Monica Boulevard near Vine Street (about a mile south of Hollywood & Vine), it is near Paramount Studios (incorporating the former RKO/Desilu Studios) and the Hollywood Forever Cemetary where numerous famous stars are buried.
As one of the first independent recording studios it was not constrained by the "old line" policies of the majors and developed its own unique commercially succesful sound. Using custom-built recording equipment and its "best ever" echo chamber, it was home to Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound", an unmatched "Wrecking Crew" house band, and source of hundreds of hit records.
A very abbreviated list of top artists that were associated with Gold Star:
Hal Blaine - the world's most recorded drummer
Tommy Tedesco - the world's most recorded guitarist
Jack Nitzsche - arranger - including many hits produced by Phil Spector. Co-wrote "Up Where We Belong".
Sonny Bono - percussion. Brought his girlfriend Cher to Gold Star. The backing on his defiantly patriotic "Revolution Kind" is a great example of the Gold Star sound.
Cher - graduated from backing singer to superstar. Recorded "Bang Bang" and "You Better Sit Down Kids" at Gold Star
Ronnettes - recorded "Be My Baby" at Gold Star -- favorite song of Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys. The elaborate intro to their "Do I Love You?" clearly highlights the elements of the Gold Star sound.
Beach Boys - recorded "Don't Worry Baby" at Gold Star - a tribute to "Be My Baby" with same Hal Blaine drum intro
Paul Revere & the Raiders - recorded "Kicks" and "Hungry" at Gold Star with Hal Blaine on drums
Buffalo Springfield - recorded "Expecting to Fly" at Gold Star with Jack Nitzsche as arranger
Righteous Brothers - recorded "Ebb Tide", "Unchained Melody", "You've Lost That Loving Feeling" (the most played song ever on US radio), and many others at Gold Star
Ike & Tina Turner - recorded "River Deep-Mountain High" and "I'll Never Need More Than This" at Goldstar - Tina was never hotter and no one ever did a better job of soaring over the Wall of Sound
Darlene Love - recorded the best rock Christmas song ever at Gold Star: "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)"
Crystals - recorded "Uptown", "He's a Rebel", and the quickly withdrawn "He Hit Me and It Felt Like a Kiss" at Gold Star. Group often included Darlene Love.
Glen Campbell - started as session guitarist at Gold Star
Leon Russell - played keyboards at Gold Star early in his career
Later recordings that paid tribute to the Gold Star sound include:
Bruce Springsteen - "Born to Run"
The Tubes - "Don't Touch Me There"
Eddie Money - "Take Me Home Tonight" which featured Ronnie of the Ronnettes reprisng the chorus from "Be My Baby"
(These are the one's that instantly come to mind -- there are hundreds more).
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Added February 2013: As the result of a comment, the photo has been updated. According to Wikipedia:
"Gold Star Recording Studios was located at 6252 Santa Monica Boulevard near the corner of Vine Street in Hollywood. The studio closed in 1984. A fire occurred in the structure after its closure, but all contents had been removed prior to the fire. The building was later demolished. A strip mall currently stands on the original location."
6252 Santa Monica Boulevard is now occupied by the water store in the above photo. The photo previously here was 6223 Santa Monica Boulevard, across the street. It had a "strong resemblence" to an alleged photo of the studio on a now non-existent web site.
I had no idea what to expect at Yalding, either the town or church. Jools realised it was near to West Farleigh, so we went to investigate.
Across what looked like a canal and then the river via an old pack bridge, with the tower of the church on the far bank.
The town, or this part of it, stretched either side of the High Street, and once parked, we approach the church down an alleyway and I see the porch doors open; a good sign.
I explained what I was at the church for: are you going to be long, I was asked.
As quick as I can be.
What I found was a huge parish church, the back of which had been converted into a community space, with a fitted kitchen, wooden floor for use possible as a gym or space for yoga, and the east kept as a fine parish church, filled with monuments, memorials and fine fixtures and fittings. Three wardens were tidying up preparing for Candlemass the next day.
I go round taking shots, taking nearly and hour to do so, as there was so much detail.
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The little cupola on the west tower is topped by a weathervane dated 1734, and summons us to a large church, heavily restored in the 1860s, but worth travelling a long way to see. The nave roof has two interesting features - one is a form of celure or canopy of honour over the third bay from the west. It must have served some long-forgotten purpose. At the east end of the nave there is a real Canopy of Honour in its more usual position over the chancel arch. The south transept contains many interesting features - niches in the walls, bare stonework walls and a good arcaded tomb chest recessed into the south wall. There is a telling string course that suggests a thirteenth-century date, although the two windows in its east wall are Decorated in style. The most recent feature in the church - and by far the most important - is the engraved glass window in the chancel. It was engraved by Laurence Whistler in 1979 and commemorates Edmund Blunden, the First World War poet. It depicts a trench, barbed wire, a shell-burst and verses from Blunden's poems. This feature apart it is the nineteenth-century work that dominates Yalding - especially the awful encaustic tiles with arrow-like designs, the crude pulpit with symbols of the evangelists and the poor quality pews. The glass isn't much better, the Light of the World in the south chancel window being especially poor, but the south window of the south transept (1877) showing scenes from the Life of Christ redeems the state of the art.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Yalding
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YALDING.
NORTH-WESTWARD from Hunton lies Yalding, antiently written Ealding, which signifies the antient meadow or low ground.
Most of this parish is in the hundred of Twyford, and the rest of it, viz. the borough of Rugmerhill, is in the antient demesne of Aylesford. That part of this parish, which holds of the manor of West Farleigh, is in the borough of West Farleigh, and the borsholder thereof ought to be chosen at the court leet there, and so much thereof as is held of the manor of Hunton, is in the borough of Hunton, and the borsholder thereof is chosen at the court leet there; and the inhabitants of neither of these boroughs owe service to the court holden for the hundred of Twyford, within which hundred they both are; but at that court a constable for that hundred may be chosen out of either of these boroughs.
THIS PARISH lying southward of the quarry hills, is within the district of the Weald. It is but narrow, but extends full four miles in length from north to south, the upper or northern part reaches up to the quarry hill adjoining to West Farleigh, near which is Yalding down, on which is a large kiln for the purpose of burning pit coal into coke, which is effected by laying the coal under earth, and when set on fire quenching the cinders; the method is used in making charcoal from wood, the former particularly is much used in the oasts for the drying of hops, so profitably encouraged in this neighbourhood. Below it, near the river Medway, its western boundary in this part, opposite to Nettlested, stands the seat of Sir John Gregory Shaw, bart. a retired, but not an ill chosen situation. It was for several generations the residence of the family of Kinward, which from the reign of king Henry VIII. was possessed of good estates in this parish and its neighbourhood, and bore for their arms, Azure, on a bend or, three roses gules, between three cross-croslets, fitchee argent. Robert Kenward, esq. of Yalding, resided here, and dying in 1720, was buried with the rest of his family in this church; he left a son John, and several daughters, of whom the third, Martha, married the late Sir Gregory Page, bart. and died S. P. John Kenward, esq. the son, died in 1749, leaving by Alicia his wife, youngest daughter of Francis Brooke, esq. of Rochester, one daughter and heir Alicia, who carried this seat and a considerable estate in this neighbourhood to Sir John Shaw, bart. late of Eltham, whose eldest son, Sir John Gregory Shaw, bart. is the present owner of it, and resides here. (fn. 1). In this part of the parish the land is kindly both for corn and hops, of which there are several plantations, and round the down there are some rich grass lands, but further southward where the parish extends to Brenchley, Horsemonden, and Mar den, it is rather a sorlorn country, the land lying very low, and the soil is exceeding wet and miry, and much of it very poor, and greatly subject to rushes, being a stiff unfertile clay; the hedge rows are broad and interspersed with quantities of large spreading oak trees.
The river Medway flows from Tunbridge along the west side of the upper part of this parish as mentioned before, there are across it here two bridges, Twyford and Brandt bridge, leading hither from Watringbury, Nettlested and East Peckham; a small stream, which comes from Marden, and is here called the Twist, flows through the lower part of this parish towards the west side of it, and joins the main river at Twyford bridge, which extends over both of them; another larger stream being a principal head of the Medway flowing from Style-bridge by Hunton clappers, separating these two parishes, joins the main river, about a quarter of a mile below Twyford bridge; on the conflux of these two larger streams the town of Yalding is situated, having a long narrow stone bridge of communication from one part of the town to the other, on the opposite bank of the Hunton stream. Leland who lived in king Henry the VIIIth.'s reign, calls it a a praty townelet, to which however at present it has no pretensions. The church and court-lodge stand at the north end of the town. A fair is held in it on WhitMonday, and on October 15, yearly. The high road over Teston bridge, and through West Farleigh, leads through the town, and thence southward along the hamlets of Denover and Collens-street to Marden; at a small distance from the former is the borough of Rugmarhill, esteemed to be within the antient demesne of Aylesford, belonging to Mrs. Milner.
Adjoining the town southward is Yalding lees, over which there is another high road, which leads from Twyford bridge, parallel with the other before-mentioned, along the hamlet of Lodingford, and thence through the lower part of this parish towards Brenchley, near the boundaries of which in this parish is an estate still called Oldlands, which appears in king Edward II's reign to have been part of the demesne lands of the manor of Yalding, for he then confirmed to the priory of Tunbridge a rent charge to be received out of the asserts of the old and new lands of the late Richard de Clare, in Dennemannesbrooke, which he had given to it on its foundation; lower down, close to the stream of the Twist, is the manor house of Bockingsold, the lands of which extend across the river into Brenchley and Horsemonden and other parishes.
A third high road over Brandt bridge passes along the western bounds of this parish, over Betsurn-green towards Lamberhurst and Sussex.
A new commission of sewers under the great seal, was not many years ago obtained to scour and cleanse that branch of the river Medway, or if I may so call it, the Yalding river from Goldwell in Great Chart, through Smarden, Hunton, and other intermediate parishes to its junction with the Rain river, at a place called Stickmouth, a little below the town of Yalding.
The commissioners for the navigation of the river Medway, about twenty years ago, made a navigable cut or canal, from a place in the river called Hampsted, where they judiciously constructed a lock to a place in the river near Twyford bridge, where they erected a tumbling bay for the water, when at a certain height, to pass over. The contrivance of this cut from one bend or angle of the river to the other, is of the greatest utility to the navigation, by not only shortening the passage, but by baying up a convenient depth of water, which they could not have had along the lees, and other adjoining low lands on each side of that part of the river, which is avoided by it, or at least not without a very great expence.
At the river here the barges are loaded with timber, great guns, bullets, &c. for Chatham and Sheerness docks, London, and other parts, and bring back coals, and other commodities for the supply of the neighbouring country.
In 1757 a large eel was caught in the river here, which measured five feet nine inches in length, and eighteen inches in girt, and weighed upwards of forty pounds.
THE MANOR OF YALDING, or Ealding, as it was usually written, was, after the conquest, part of the possessions of the eminent family of Clare, who became afterwards earls of Gloucester and Hertford, (fn. 2) the ancestor of whom, Richard Fitz Gilbert, came into England with William the Conqueror, and gave him great assistance in the memorable battle of Hastings, and in respect of his near alliance in blood to the king, he was advanced to great honor, and had large possessions bestowed upon him, both in Normandy and England; among the latter was this estate of Yalding, as appears from the survey of Domesday, taken in the 15th year of the Conqueror's reign, in which it is thus entered, under the title of Terra Richardi F. Gislebti:
Richard de Tonebridge holds Ealdinges, and Aldret held it of king Edward, and then and now it was taxed at two sulings. The arable land is sixteen carucates. There are two churches (viz. Yalding and Brenchley) and fifteen servants, and two mills of twenty-five shillings, and four fisheries of one thousand and seven hundred eels, all but twenty. There are five acres of pasture, and wood for the pannage of one hundred and fifty hogs.
In the time of king Edward the Consessor, and afterwards, it was worth thirty pounds, now twenty pounds, on account of the lands lying waste to that amount.
The above-mentioned Richard Fitz Gilbert, at the latter end of the Conqueror's reign, was usually called Richard de Tonebridge, from his possessions and residence there, and his descendants took the name of Clare, for the like reason of their possessing that honor. His descendant, Gilbert, son of Richard de Clare, earl of Gloucester and Hertford, owned it in the reign of king Henry III. and in the 21st year of Edward I. he claimed before the justices itinerant, and was allowed all the privileges of a manor.
¶Gilbert de Clare, earl of Gloucester and Hertford, his son, by Joane, of Acres, king Edward I.'s daughter, succeeded to it, and dying in the 7th year of king Edward II. without surviving issue, his three sisters became his coheirs, and on the partition of their inheritance, this manor, among others in this county, was allotted to Margaret, the second sister, then wife of Hugh de Audley, junior, who in the 12th year of Edward II. obtained for his manor of Ealding, a market to be held here weekly, and a fair to continue three days yearly, viz. the vigil, the day of the feast of St. Peter and St. Paul, and the day subsequent to it. He died in the 21st year of it, holding this manor, which he held for his life, by the law of England, of the king in capite. He left an only daughter and heir Margaret, then the wife of Ralph Stafford, who in her right became possessed of the manor of Yalding, and was a man greatly esteemed by king Edward III. who among other marks of his favor, in his 24th year, advanced him to the title of earl of Stafford.
After which it continued in his descendants down to his great grandson, Humphry Stafford, who was created duke of Buckingham anno 23 Henry VI. whose grandson Henry, duke of Buckingham, having put himself in arms against king Richard, in favor of Henry, earl of Richmond, and being deserted by his army, had concealed himself in the house of one Ralph Banister, who had been his servant, who on the king's proclamation of a reward of 1000l. or 100l. per annum, for the discovering of the duke, betrayed him, and he was without either arraignment or judgment, beheaded at Salisbury.
YALDING is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Rochester and deanry of Malling.
The church, which is a large handsome building, consists of three isles and a large chancel, with a square tower at the west end. Against the south wall in it is a very antient altar tomb, which has been much desaced, on which is remaining, Ermine, a bend gules. There was formerly a brass plate on it. On a large stone in the middle isle, is a memorial for Robert Penhurst, descended from Sir Robert Penhurst, of Penhurst, in Suffex, who died in 1610. The arms, on a shield, a mullet. In the chancel there is a handsome monument for the family of Warde, who bore for their arms, Azure, a cross flory or, and one for the family of Kenward, in this parish. In the pavement of the church are several large broad stones, a kind of petrifaction of the testaceous kind, dug up in the moors or low lands in this parish.
Richard de Clare, earl of Hertford, gave the church of Aldinges, with the chapel of Brenchesley, and all their appurtenances, in pure and perpetual alms, to the priory of Tunbridge, lately founded by him.
Gilbert de Glanvill, bishop of Rochester, who came to that fee in the 31st year of king Henry II. confirmed this gift, and granted, that the prior and canons should possess the appropriation of this church in pure and perpetual alms; saving a perpetual vicarage in it, granted by his authority, with the assent and presentation of the prior and canons as follows:
That the vicar should have the altarage, and all obventions, and small tithes belonging to this church, and all houses, which were within the court, and the land belonging to the church, together with the tenants and homages, and the alder-bed, and the tithes of sheaves of Wenesmannesbroke, and the tithes of Longesbroke, of the new assart, and the moiety of meadow belonging to the church; all which were granted to him, to hold under the yearly pension of two shillings, duly to be paid to the prior and canons; and that the vicar should sustain all episcopal burthens and customs, as well for the prior and canons as for himself. And he granted to the prior and canons as part of the appropriation, the tithes of sheaves of this church, excepting the said tithes of Wenesmannesbroke, and of Longebroke; and that they should have the moiety of the meadow belonging to the church, with the fisheries, and the place in which the two greater barns stood, with the barns themselves, and the whole outer court in which the stable stood, with the garden which was towards the east, and the small piece of land which lay by the garden, and the rent of four-pence, which ought to be paid yearly to the court of Eyles forde; reserving to himself the power of altering the endowment of this vicarage, if at any time it should seem expedient; saving, nevertheless, all episcopal rights to the bishop of Rochester, &c. (fn. 16)
The church of Yalding, together with the advowson of the vicarage, remained with the priory of Tunbridge, till the suppression of it, in the 17th year of king Henry VIII. when being one of those smaller monasteries which cardinal Wolsey had obtained for the endowment of his colleges, it was surrendered into his hands, with all the possessions belonging to it.
After which the king granted his licence to him, in his 18th year, to appropriate and annex this church, among others of the cardinal's patronage, to the dean and canons of the college founded by him in the university of Oxford. But here it staid only four years, when this great prelate being cast in a præmunire in 1529, the estates of that college were forfeited to the king, and became part of the royal revenue.
¶Queen Elizabeth, in her 10th year, granted the rectory or parsonage of Yalding, and the advowson of the vicarage, for thirty years, to Mr. John Warde, at the yearly rent of thirty pounds, in whose possession they continued till king James I. in his 5th year, granted the see of them to Richard Lyddale and Edward Bostock, at the like yearly rent, (fn. 17) and they soon afterwards alienated them to Ambrose Warde, gent. of this parish, son of John above-mentioned, in whose descendants they continued down till they came into the possession of three brothers, Thomas, of Littlebrook, in Stone; George and Ambrose, among whose descendants they came afterwards to be divided, and again sub-divided in different shares, one third part to captain Thomas Amhurst, of Rochester; one third of a third part, and a third of a sixth part to Mr. Holmes, of Derby; Mr. Ambrose Ward, of Littlebrook, and the Rev. Mr. Richard Warde, late of Oxford, each alike, and the remaining sixth part by the Rev. Mr. John Warde, the present vicar of this parish, who some years ago rebuilt the vicarage-house in a very handsome manner.
This rectory now pays a yearly fee-farm rent of thirty pounds to the crown.
It is valued in the king's books, at 20l. 18s. 9d. and the yearly tenths at 2l. 1s. 10½d.
There are two separate manors, one belonging to the rectory or parsonage, and the other to the vicarage of this church.
Expecting and nursing mothers require social protection but workers in the informal economy are often not covered. Maternity protection has been a primary concern of the ILO since its creation in 1919. Workplace support for mothers who are breastfeeding has been a basic provision of maternity protection. The Philippines expanded maternity leave benefits in 2019 to align with international labour standards. The ILO also promoted exclusive breastfeeding in the workplace to advance women’s rights to maternity protection and to improve nutrition security for Filipino children.
Photo : E. Tuyay / ILO
Date : 2011/11
Country : Philippines
Surprise! I hadn't expected to be doing this again until Tuesday...but then the wife called and said she was delaying her return until this evening. So, despite some other errands and such, I have time for two dressing/photo sessions today!
I'm calling these two sessions "The Sissy Schoolgirl and Her Headmistress". You'll see why later.
The nautical top is by Cathy Daniels, bought at Boscov's in June 2011; the scandalously short pleated microskirt is a thrift shop find by Big Flirt, from April 2011; the shoes are Isaac Mizrahi black mary-janes from Target in November 2007. Other accessories are a big shiny bow, chunky and silver jewelry, and frilly socks.
After completing the curriculum, participants are expected to develop an advocacy campaign or community-based project to prevent a specific form of violence that they have identified as a priority. In this photo, girl guides from Nigeria learn how to develop an advocacy campaign using non-formal educational activities.
Voices against Violence is a unique non-formal education curriculum for young people aged 5-25 years, co-developed by UN Women and the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) to prevent violence against women and girls. With the support of Zonta International, WAGGGS is organizing Training of Trainers workshops where youth leaders learn how to deliver the curriculum to children and young people. Estimated to reach 800,000 children and young people, Voices against Violence can be delivered in schools or in peer/community-based settings and adapted to local contexts. For more information, visit: www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2013/10/v...
Photo: UN Women/Urjasi Rudra
I had no idea what to expect at Yalding, either the town or church. Jools realised it was near to West Farleigh, so we went to investigate.
Across what looked like a canal and then the river via an old pack bridge, with the tower of the church on the far bank.
The town, or this part of it, stretched either side of the High Street, and once parked, we approach the church down an alleyway and I see the porch doors open; a good sign.
I explained what I was at the church for: are you going to be long, I was asked.
As quick as I can be.
What I found was a huge parish church, the back of which had been converted into a community space, with a fitted kitchen, wooden floor for use possible as a gym or space for yoga, and the east kept as a fine parish church, filled with monuments, memorials and fine fixtures and fittings. Three wardens were tidying up preparing for Candlemass the next day.
I go round taking shots, taking nearly and hour to do so, as there was so much detail.
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The little cupola on the west tower is topped by a weathervane dated 1734, and summons us to a large church, heavily restored in the 1860s, but worth travelling a long way to see. The nave roof has two interesting features - one is a form of celure or canopy of honour over the third bay from the west. It must have served some long-forgotten purpose. At the east end of the nave there is a real Canopy of Honour in its more usual position over the chancel arch. The south transept contains many interesting features - niches in the walls, bare stonework walls and a good arcaded tomb chest recessed into the south wall. There is a telling string course that suggests a thirteenth-century date, although the two windows in its east wall are Decorated in style. The most recent feature in the church - and by far the most important - is the engraved glass window in the chancel. It was engraved by Laurence Whistler in 1979 and commemorates Edmund Blunden, the First World War poet. It depicts a trench, barbed wire, a shell-burst and verses from Blunden's poems. This feature apart it is the nineteenth-century work that dominates Yalding - especially the awful encaustic tiles with arrow-like designs, the crude pulpit with symbols of the evangelists and the poor quality pews. The glass isn't much better, the Light of the World in the south chancel window being especially poor, but the south window of the south transept (1877) showing scenes from the Life of Christ redeems the state of the art.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Yalding
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YALDING.
NORTH-WESTWARD from Hunton lies Yalding, antiently written Ealding, which signifies the antient meadow or low ground.
Most of this parish is in the hundred of Twyford, and the rest of it, viz. the borough of Rugmerhill, is in the antient demesne of Aylesford. That part of this parish, which holds of the manor of West Farleigh, is in the borough of West Farleigh, and the borsholder thereof ought to be chosen at the court leet there, and so much thereof as is held of the manor of Hunton, is in the borough of Hunton, and the borsholder thereof is chosen at the court leet there; and the inhabitants of neither of these boroughs owe service to the court holden for the hundred of Twyford, within which hundred they both are; but at that court a constable for that hundred may be chosen out of either of these boroughs.
THIS PARISH lying southward of the quarry hills, is within the district of the Weald. It is but narrow, but extends full four miles in length from north to south, the upper or northern part reaches up to the quarry hill adjoining to West Farleigh, near which is Yalding down, on which is a large kiln for the purpose of burning pit coal into coke, which is effected by laying the coal under earth, and when set on fire quenching the cinders; the method is used in making charcoal from wood, the former particularly is much used in the oasts for the drying of hops, so profitably encouraged in this neighbourhood. Below it, near the river Medway, its western boundary in this part, opposite to Nettlested, stands the seat of Sir John Gregory Shaw, bart. a retired, but not an ill chosen situation. It was for several generations the residence of the family of Kinward, which from the reign of king Henry VIII. was possessed of good estates in this parish and its neighbourhood, and bore for their arms, Azure, on a bend or, three roses gules, between three cross-croslets, fitchee argent. Robert Kenward, esq. of Yalding, resided here, and dying in 1720, was buried with the rest of his family in this church; he left a son John, and several daughters, of whom the third, Martha, married the late Sir Gregory Page, bart. and died S. P. John Kenward, esq. the son, died in 1749, leaving by Alicia his wife, youngest daughter of Francis Brooke, esq. of Rochester, one daughter and heir Alicia, who carried this seat and a considerable estate in this neighbourhood to Sir John Shaw, bart. late of Eltham, whose eldest son, Sir John Gregory Shaw, bart. is the present owner of it, and resides here. (fn. 1). In this part of the parish the land is kindly both for corn and hops, of which there are several plantations, and round the down there are some rich grass lands, but further southward where the parish extends to Brenchley, Horsemonden, and Mar den, it is rather a sorlorn country, the land lying very low, and the soil is exceeding wet and miry, and much of it very poor, and greatly subject to rushes, being a stiff unfertile clay; the hedge rows are broad and interspersed with quantities of large spreading oak trees.
The river Medway flows from Tunbridge along the west side of the upper part of this parish as mentioned before, there are across it here two bridges, Twyford and Brandt bridge, leading hither from Watringbury, Nettlested and East Peckham; a small stream, which comes from Marden, and is here called the Twist, flows through the lower part of this parish towards the west side of it, and joins the main river at Twyford bridge, which extends over both of them; another larger stream being a principal head of the Medway flowing from Style-bridge by Hunton clappers, separating these two parishes, joins the main river, about a quarter of a mile below Twyford bridge; on the conflux of these two larger streams the town of Yalding is situated, having a long narrow stone bridge of communication from one part of the town to the other, on the opposite bank of the Hunton stream. Leland who lived in king Henry the VIIIth.'s reign, calls it a a praty townelet, to which however at present it has no pretensions. The church and court-lodge stand at the north end of the town. A fair is held in it on WhitMonday, and on October 15, yearly. The high road over Teston bridge, and through West Farleigh, leads through the town, and thence southward along the hamlets of Denover and Collens-street to Marden; at a small distance from the former is the borough of Rugmarhill, esteemed to be within the antient demesne of Aylesford, belonging to Mrs. Milner.
Adjoining the town southward is Yalding lees, over which there is another high road, which leads from Twyford bridge, parallel with the other before-mentioned, along the hamlet of Lodingford, and thence through the lower part of this parish towards Brenchley, near the boundaries of which in this parish is an estate still called Oldlands, which appears in king Edward II's reign to have been part of the demesne lands of the manor of Yalding, for he then confirmed to the priory of Tunbridge a rent charge to be received out of the asserts of the old and new lands of the late Richard de Clare, in Dennemannesbrooke, which he had given to it on its foundation; lower down, close to the stream of the Twist, is the manor house of Bockingsold, the lands of which extend across the river into Brenchley and Horsemonden and other parishes.
A third high road over Brandt bridge passes along the western bounds of this parish, over Betsurn-green towards Lamberhurst and Sussex.
A new commission of sewers under the great seal, was not many years ago obtained to scour and cleanse that branch of the river Medway, or if I may so call it, the Yalding river from Goldwell in Great Chart, through Smarden, Hunton, and other intermediate parishes to its junction with the Rain river, at a place called Stickmouth, a little below the town of Yalding.
The commissioners for the navigation of the river Medway, about twenty years ago, made a navigable cut or canal, from a place in the river called Hampsted, where they judiciously constructed a lock to a place in the river near Twyford bridge, where they erected a tumbling bay for the water, when at a certain height, to pass over. The contrivance of this cut from one bend or angle of the river to the other, is of the greatest utility to the navigation, by not only shortening the passage, but by baying up a convenient depth of water, which they could not have had along the lees, and other adjoining low lands on each side of that part of the river, which is avoided by it, or at least not without a very great expence.
At the river here the barges are loaded with timber, great guns, bullets, &c. for Chatham and Sheerness docks, London, and other parts, and bring back coals, and other commodities for the supply of the neighbouring country.
In 1757 a large eel was caught in the river here, which measured five feet nine inches in length, and eighteen inches in girt, and weighed upwards of forty pounds.
THE MANOR OF YALDING, or Ealding, as it was usually written, was, after the conquest, part of the possessions of the eminent family of Clare, who became afterwards earls of Gloucester and Hertford, (fn. 2) the ancestor of whom, Richard Fitz Gilbert, came into England with William the Conqueror, and gave him great assistance in the memorable battle of Hastings, and in respect of his near alliance in blood to the king, he was advanced to great honor, and had large possessions bestowed upon him, both in Normandy and England; among the latter was this estate of Yalding, as appears from the survey of Domesday, taken in the 15th year of the Conqueror's reign, in which it is thus entered, under the title of Terra Richardi F. Gislebti:
Richard de Tonebridge holds Ealdinges, and Aldret held it of king Edward, and then and now it was taxed at two sulings. The arable land is sixteen carucates. There are two churches (viz. Yalding and Brenchley) and fifteen servants, and two mills of twenty-five shillings, and four fisheries of one thousand and seven hundred eels, all but twenty. There are five acres of pasture, and wood for the pannage of one hundred and fifty hogs.
In the time of king Edward the Consessor, and afterwards, it was worth thirty pounds, now twenty pounds, on account of the lands lying waste to that amount.
The above-mentioned Richard Fitz Gilbert, at the latter end of the Conqueror's reign, was usually called Richard de Tonebridge, from his possessions and residence there, and his descendants took the name of Clare, for the like reason of their possessing that honor. His descendant, Gilbert, son of Richard de Clare, earl of Gloucester and Hertford, owned it in the reign of king Henry III. and in the 21st year of Edward I. he claimed before the justices itinerant, and was allowed all the privileges of a manor.
¶Gilbert de Clare, earl of Gloucester and Hertford, his son, by Joane, of Acres, king Edward I.'s daughter, succeeded to it, and dying in the 7th year of king Edward II. without surviving issue, his three sisters became his coheirs, and on the partition of their inheritance, this manor, among others in this county, was allotted to Margaret, the second sister, then wife of Hugh de Audley, junior, who in the 12th year of Edward II. obtained for his manor of Ealding, a market to be held here weekly, and a fair to continue three days yearly, viz. the vigil, the day of the feast of St. Peter and St. Paul, and the day subsequent to it. He died in the 21st year of it, holding this manor, which he held for his life, by the law of England, of the king in capite. He left an only daughter and heir Margaret, then the wife of Ralph Stafford, who in her right became possessed of the manor of Yalding, and was a man greatly esteemed by king Edward III. who among other marks of his favor, in his 24th year, advanced him to the title of earl of Stafford.
After which it continued in his descendants down to his great grandson, Humphry Stafford, who was created duke of Buckingham anno 23 Henry VI. whose grandson Henry, duke of Buckingham, having put himself in arms against king Richard, in favor of Henry, earl of Richmond, and being deserted by his army, had concealed himself in the house of one Ralph Banister, who had been his servant, who on the king's proclamation of a reward of 1000l. or 100l. per annum, for the discovering of the duke, betrayed him, and he was without either arraignment or judgment, beheaded at Salisbury.
YALDING is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Rochester and deanry of Malling.
The church, which is a large handsome building, consists of three isles and a large chancel, with a square tower at the west end. Against the south wall in it is a very antient altar tomb, which has been much desaced, on which is remaining, Ermine, a bend gules. There was formerly a brass plate on it. On a large stone in the middle isle, is a memorial for Robert Penhurst, descended from Sir Robert Penhurst, of Penhurst, in Suffex, who died in 1610. The arms, on a shield, a mullet. In the chancel there is a handsome monument for the family of Warde, who bore for their arms, Azure, a cross flory or, and one for the family of Kenward, in this parish. In the pavement of the church are several large broad stones, a kind of petrifaction of the testaceous kind, dug up in the moors or low lands in this parish.
Richard de Clare, earl of Hertford, gave the church of Aldinges, with the chapel of Brenchesley, and all their appurtenances, in pure and perpetual alms, to the priory of Tunbridge, lately founded by him.
Gilbert de Glanvill, bishop of Rochester, who came to that fee in the 31st year of king Henry II. confirmed this gift, and granted, that the prior and canons should possess the appropriation of this church in pure and perpetual alms; saving a perpetual vicarage in it, granted by his authority, with the assent and presentation of the prior and canons as follows:
That the vicar should have the altarage, and all obventions, and small tithes belonging to this church, and all houses, which were within the court, and the land belonging to the church, together with the tenants and homages, and the alder-bed, and the tithes of sheaves of Wenesmannesbroke, and the tithes of Longesbroke, of the new assart, and the moiety of meadow belonging to the church; all which were granted to him, to hold under the yearly pension of two shillings, duly to be paid to the prior and canons; and that the vicar should sustain all episcopal burthens and customs, as well for the prior and canons as for himself. And he granted to the prior and canons as part of the appropriation, the tithes of sheaves of this church, excepting the said tithes of Wenesmannesbroke, and of Longebroke; and that they should have the moiety of the meadow belonging to the church, with the fisheries, and the place in which the two greater barns stood, with the barns themselves, and the whole outer court in which the stable stood, with the garden which was towards the east, and the small piece of land which lay by the garden, and the rent of four-pence, which ought to be paid yearly to the court of Eyles forde; reserving to himself the power of altering the endowment of this vicarage, if at any time it should seem expedient; saving, nevertheless, all episcopal rights to the bishop of Rochester, &c. (fn. 16)
The church of Yalding, together with the advowson of the vicarage, remained with the priory of Tunbridge, till the suppression of it, in the 17th year of king Henry VIII. when being one of those smaller monasteries which cardinal Wolsey had obtained for the endowment of his colleges, it was surrendered into his hands, with all the possessions belonging to it.
After which the king granted his licence to him, in his 18th year, to appropriate and annex this church, among others of the cardinal's patronage, to the dean and canons of the college founded by him in the university of Oxford. But here it staid only four years, when this great prelate being cast in a præmunire in 1529, the estates of that college were forfeited to the king, and became part of the royal revenue.
¶Queen Elizabeth, in her 10th year, granted the rectory or parsonage of Yalding, and the advowson of the vicarage, for thirty years, to Mr. John Warde, at the yearly rent of thirty pounds, in whose possession they continued till king James I. in his 5th year, granted the see of them to Richard Lyddale and Edward Bostock, at the like yearly rent, (fn. 17) and they soon afterwards alienated them to Ambrose Warde, gent. of this parish, son of John above-mentioned, in whose descendants they continued down till they came into the possession of three brothers, Thomas, of Littlebrook, in Stone; George and Ambrose, among whose descendants they came afterwards to be divided, and again sub-divided in different shares, one third part to captain Thomas Amhurst, of Rochester; one third of a third part, and a third of a sixth part to Mr. Holmes, of Derby; Mr. Ambrose Ward, of Littlebrook, and the Rev. Mr. Richard Warde, late of Oxford, each alike, and the remaining sixth part by the Rev. Mr. John Warde, the present vicar of this parish, who some years ago rebuilt the vicarage-house in a very handsome manner.
This rectory now pays a yearly fee-farm rent of thirty pounds to the crown.
It is valued in the king's books, at 20l. 18s. 9d. and the yearly tenths at 2l. 1s. 10½d.
There are two separate manors, one belonging to the rectory or parsonage, and the other to the vicarage of this church.
Heritage/Ride and Stride weekend was a bit hit and miss, to be expected with COVID, I suppose. But churches next to each other open and closed, or open but with different restrictions or no restrictions.
But a 50% open rate wasn't bad.
I was last here in January, when mist shrouded St Michael and the view. It looked grim.
Fast forward to a sunny September lunchtime, and I arrived with low expectations.
A husband and wife team were clearing the summer growth from the path leading to the porch. I stood still until I was noticed by the wife.
She smiled.
The husband carried on strimming. It was a petrol driven one, and was loud.
He stopped, and I saw he had no ear protection and the motor was beside his left ear. I told him to be careful.
You sound like my wife, he said.
Is the church open, I asked.
It is.
Can I go in?
Of course.
We've had a new carpet paid, nice and red.
Indeed they had.
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This is an enigma! The medieval church, of which the tower with its fine 14th century west window, survives, was destroyed by fire in the late 18th century. The story of the fires is recorded in Hasted`s History of Kent. It was rebuilt by Henry Holland as a classical box with gothic detailing – for instance the vestry lancet – but this was mostly undone by two Victorian restorations which combined to turn the church into a more standard building. The interior is barn like but the fine glass by Barraud and Westlake is all of a date around 1900, though some more recent repairs have been really botched with naïve faces much in evidence. The pulpit is fine work of the Victorian restoration with curving staircase and on the whole nothing jars. It is a building of two periods – each recorded by plaques and boards – and the crumbling ragstone exterior with galletted blocks gives the impression that it is waiting for the next period of change.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Chart+Sutton
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CHART SUTTON.
THE next parish southward from Langley is Chart Sutton, or as it should be more properly called, Chart by Sutton, written in Domesday, Certh.
THIS PARISH is but small, the lower or southern ridge of Quarry-hills divides the upper and lower parts of it, the latter is in the district of the Weald, where the country is low and flat, abounding with broad hedge rows, filled with large and spreading oaks. It is exceeding wet and miry in winter, the soil being a deep stiff elay. At the foot of the hill there rises a stream, which having turned a mill, flows from thence southward across this parish, till it joins the branch of the Medway just above Herefeed-bridge; on and about the hill the soil consists of the quarry-stone, thinly covered with a loam, being exceedingly fertile for corn, fruit, and hops. Just above the summit of the hill is the village and church, with Chart-place adjoining to the church-yard; beyond which northward the soil becomes less fertile, being a hungry red earth mixed with flints, which continues till it joins the parish of Langley.
The mention made in the record of Domesday of the three arpends of vineyard in this parish, ought not to be passed by unnoticed here, this being one of several instances of there having been vineyards in this county in very early times. I mean plantations of the grapevine; for I can by no means acquiese in the conjecture, that Vineæ universally meant plantations of apples and pears, at least so far as relates to this county, where the latter were not introduced at the time, nor for some time after the taking of the survey of Domesday. This opinion is further confirmed by the instance of Hamo, bishop of Rochester, who, when Edward II. in his 19th year, was at Bokinsold, in this county, sent that prince a gift both of wine and grapes, from his vineyard at Halling, near Rochester, the episcopal palace where he then resided. These vineyards being likewise measured by the arpend, the same measure that they usually were in France, shews that when the vine was brought from thence and cultivated here, the same kind of measure was continued to the plantations of them, a measure different from that of any other kind of land. Sir Robert Atkins, in his History of Gloucestershire, has indeed given two instances from records in the reigns of king John and king Edward II. to prove the contrary, which might suit exceeding well with the language of his countrymen, and the bleak county of Gloucester, where the grape-vine had never been seen, and the only beverage was that of the apple and pear, which they had dignisified with the appellation of wine. In my memory there have been two exceeding fine vineyards in this county, one at Tunbridgecastle, and the other at Hall-place, in Barming, near Maidstone, from which quantities of exceeding good and well-flavored wine have been produced. This parish of Chart, among others in the same situation, on the side of the quarry hills, is peculiarly adapted to the planting of vines, as well from the warm and nutritive quality of the soil, as its genial aspect, being entirely sheltered from the north and east, and facing the south on the declivity of the hill.
CHART was part of those possessions given by William the Conqueror to his half-brother Odo, bishop of Baieux, under the general title of whose lands it is thus entered in that record.
The same Adam Fitz Hubert holds of the bishop of Baieux, Certh. It was taxed at three sulings. The arable land is eight carucates. In demesne there is one, and twenty villeins, with five borderers having six carucates. There is a church and eight servants, and six acres of meadow. Wood for the pannage of fifty hogs. There are three arpends of vineyard, and a park of beasts of the forest. In the time of king Edward the Confessor, and afterwards, and now, it was and is worth twelve pounds. Alnod Cilt held it.
Four years after the taking the above-mentioned survey, the bishop of Baieux was disgraced, and all his estates were confiscated to the crown.
This estate afterwards became the property of Baldwin de Betun, earl of Albermarle, likewise lord of the manor of Sutton Valence, to which this estate seems to have been accounted an appendage, and it afterwards continued with it, in a like succession of ownership, down to Sir Christopher Desbouverie, who soon after his coming into the possession of it in 1708, on a spot which he had purchased of others, on which there was then only a mean cottage, built for himself a mansion near the church here, where he afterwards resided. (fn. 1) He died possessed of it in 1733, leaving two sons, who both died without issue, and also two daughters, who became their brother's heirs, and on the partition of their inheritance in 1752, this manor was, among others in this neighbourhood, allotted to the share of the youngest, Mrs. Elizabeth Bouverie, now of Teston, who continues owner of it.
NORTON-PLACE is an antient manor and mansion in this parish, though now and for many years since made use of only as a farm-house, situated about half a mile northward from Chart-place. It was antiently the property and residence of the family of Norton, to whom it gave name; and in the south windows of this church there were formerly the essigies of Stephen Norton, who lived in king Richard II.'s reign, with his arms, Argent, a chevron between three crescents azure, on his tabard or surcoat, and Philipott says that he had found in a tournament of the Kentish gentlemen one of this name, in a tabard of the arms above-mentioned, encountering one Christmas, of East Sutton, not far distant, who was in like manner habited in a surcoat charged with his arms, expressive of his name, viz. Gules, upon a bend sable, three wassail bowls, or; which coat was likewise depicted in the south windows of Sutton church. But the partitions inherent to gavelkind, so diminished the patrimony of this family, that in the reign of queen Elizabeth, and afterwards, they were obliged to sell off several parts of it at different times, all which came at length into the possession of Sir Ed ward Hales, created a baronet in 1611, whose grandson and heir of the same name in 1660 purchased of the two coheirs of the family of Norton, married to Denne and Underwood, the seat itself, with the remainder of the land belonging to it, by a fine then levied by them and their husbands for that purpose. His trustees about the year 1670, conveyed it, with the manor of Sutton Valence and Chart before-mentioned, and sundry other premises, to Sir William Drake, of Amersham, with which it was in like manner sold, about the year 1708, to Sir Christopher Desbouverie, whose daughter, Mrs. Elizabeth Bouverie, of Teston, after the death of her two brothers, and a partition of her father's estates between herself and her sister, is now entitled to it.
WALTERS-FOLLY, in the den of Ivetigh, now vulgarly called THE FOLLY, is an estate situated in the southern part of this parish, about a mile below the summit of the hill. It was antiently the property of the family of Ivetigh, antiently spelt Evythye, who implanted their name on it, as they did on other lands in this parish, still called by their name; and though the deeds of this estate, which mention them as possessors of it, do not reach higher than the reign of king Henry VI. yet, undoubtedly, they were owners of it long before.
In the above-mentioned reign, however, this estate was alienated by one of that name to Robert Mascall, who died possessed of it in the 4th year of Edward IV. By his will, dated Nov. 25, that year, he willed his body to be buried in the church yard of this parish. He devised 6s. 8d. towards the pavement of the church, and to the leading of it twenty shillings; all his lands and tenements to his wife, for her life, remainder to his son Thomas, his daughter Elizabeth mentioned in it. His son Thomas Mascall resided here, and some years after his father's death sold it to Wm. Lambe, who changed the name of it to Lambden; in his descendants, who bore for their arms, Sable, on a fess or, two mullets of the field, between three cinquefoils ermine, it continued till it was at length sold to Perry, descended from those of Worcestershire, and it remained in that name till the reign of king Charles I. when Mr. James Perry, of Lenham, dying s.p. his three daughters, Elizabeth, married to Mr. Thomas Petley, of Filston; Anne and Mary became his coheirs, and entitled to this estate, which they afterwards joined in the sale of to Walter, who rebuilt the house on it, which afterwards gained the name of Walter's folly; from one of his descendants it was purchased, in the reign of queen Anne, by Sir Samuel Ongley, of London, who gave it, together with an estate called Elderden, lying at a small distance from it, by will to his nephew, Samuel Ongley, esq. of Old Warden, in Bedfordshire, in tail: on whose death s. p. this estate came by the entail abovementioned to his nephew Robert Henley, esq. who took upon him the name of Ongley, and was in 1776 created baron Ongley, of Ireland, he died in 1785, and his son Robert lord Ongley, is the present owner of it.
ALMNERY-GREEN, usually called Almery green, is a place in the western part of this parish, where there is an estate called Haddis tenement, alias Almery, which was for many generations the residence of the family of Hadde, called in antient writings likewise Le Hadde. Robert Hadde lived here in the reign of king Henry III. as did his son William le Hadde in the next reign of Edward I. (fn. 2) At length about the latter end of the reign of king Edward III. this family divided into two branches, of which Robert le Hadde, the eldest son and heir, settled at Frinsted, where his descendants continued for many generations, and the youngest son inherited this family seat at Chart, which remained in the possessions of his descendants, till Thomas Haddys, in the reign of king Henry VII. leaving two daughters his coheirs, Margaret married first Wm. Wright and afterwards Nicholas Harpur; and Catherine, who married Thomas Bidlake, of Devonshire, this house and estate in Chart became the property of his eldest daughter Margaret, who entitled her husband, William Wright, to it; and he, anno 17 Henry VII. conveyed it to Roger Morys, of Ledes, and after some intermediate owners, it came into the possession of Robert Baker, who in 1612 sold it to Sir Edward Hales, bart. The trustees of whose grandson, Sir Edward Hales, bart. sold it with the manor of Sutton Valence, and his other estates in this parish, to Sir William Drake, of Amersham, with which they were in like manner afterwards sold to Sir Christopher Desbouverie; and on the partition between his two daughters and coheirs, these premises were alloted, with other lands in this and the neighbouring parishes, to Anne, the eldest daughter, married to John Hervey, esq. afterwards of Beechworth, who died possessed of them in 1757, and his grandson Christopher Hervey, esq. is now entitled to them.
There is an estate on ALMNERY-GREEN, which was formerly part of the possessions of the priory of Ledes, and most probably belonging to the almnery of that house, gave name to this place. It the remained with it till the reign of Henry VIII. when the priory being dissolved, this estate came, with the rest of the possessions of it, into the king's hands, and was settled by him in the 32d year of his reign, on his new-erected dean and chapter of Rochester, who are now entitled to the inheritance of it.
LESTED is an antient seat, situated on the northern side of the high road leading from Cocks-heath to Langley-heath, near Chart corner.
It was formerly part of the possessions of the family of Potman. who were possessed of other estates in this parish as has been already mentioned and it continued with them till Sir Richard Potman sold it to Simon Smyth, gent. who resided at Buckland, in Maidstone, whose son Simon was of Boughton Monchensie, and had the arms of his family confirmed to him by Camdem, clarencieux, in 1650. (fn. 3). He left a son Simon, of Lested, (fn. 4) whose widow afterwards remarried George Curteis, esq. sheriff of this county in 1651, when he resided here in her right.
In the descendants of Simon Smyth this estate descended down to the Rev. John Smyth, vicar of this parish, and rector of Hastingleigh, who died in 1732, and was succeeded by his son John Smyth, esq. whose widow, Mrs. Elizabeth Smyth survived him, and afterwards resided in it. She was daughter of Ralph Whitfield, esq. major of the Welsh fuzileers, by whom he left four daughters, Felicia, Elizabeth, Anna Maria, and Dorothea, his coheirs, and they or their respective heirs are now entitled to it.
CHENEYS-COURT is a reputed manor here, which appears in very early times to have been called Hadenesham, and to have been in the possession of Sir Robert de Shurland, a man of great eminence in the reign of king Edward I. who leaving an only daughter and heir, she carried this estate, with other large inheritanbe, in marriage to William de Cheney, of Patricksborne, in whose descendants it continued so long, that they implanted their name on it; at length Sir Thomas Cheney passed it away to John Iden, who died possessed of it in the 4th year of Henry VIII. and one of his descendants, leaving two daughters and coheirs, one of whom married Browne, and the other Barton, the latter of them, in right of his wife, possessed this estate, and in that name it continued till it was at length alienated to Heyward, for Rowland Heyward had the queen's licence, anno 16 Elizabeth, to alienate the messuage and manor, called Chenye-court, to John Long, of Tunbridge; after which it passed to Wolett, and thence to Jordan, and afterwards to that branch of the family of Fane, who were earls of Westmoreland, in which it continued till John, earl of Westmoreland, dying in 1762, s. p. this, among his other estates in this county, is at length, by the limitations of his will, come to the right hon. Thomas, lord le Despencer, who continues the present possessor of it.
There is the appearance of an old manor-pound belonging to it; but there has been no court held for this manor in the memory of man.
THE FAMILY OF SPENCER once possessed an estate in this parish, and resided here for some generations; one of whom John Spencer, esq. was of Chart Sutton, and bore for their arms, Argent, a fess engrailed, in chief three lions rampant, gules, at the latter end of the reign of king Henry VIII. as was his son of the same name afterwards. He left two sons, John and Nicholas, and five daughters, who on their elder brother's death s. p. became his coheirs; and in the beginning of the reign of king Charles I. joined with their respective husbands in the sale of their inheritance in this parish, to Sir Edward Hales, bart. it afterwards passed into the possession of Sir William Drake, and then to Sir Christopher Desbouverie, in whose descendants it has continued in like manner as the rest of his estates in this parish to the present time.
Charities.
RICHARD MASCALL gave by will in 1599, for the better support of the poor the yearly sum of 40s. in land in Ashford, vested in Edward Finch Hatton, esq. and now of the annual produce of 1l. 11s.
JOAN MASCALL gave by will in 1598, for the like use, the annual sum of 10s. in land in this parish, vested in Wm. Spong, and of that annual produce.
The poor constantly maintained by this parish are yearly in number about thirty-five, casually about twenty.
CHART SUTTON is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Sutton,
The church, which stands near the summit of the hill, at a very small distance from Sutton Valence, is dedicated to St. Michael.
This church has been twice set on fire by lightning: the first time, a few years ago, when it was fortunately soon extinguished; the last time was on April 23, 1779, about seven o'clock in the morning, when in a dreadful storm of thunder, the lightning set fire to the beautiful spire steeple of it, and in about three hours time burnt that and the whole building to ashes, excepting the bare walls; since which it has been rebuilt from a plan of Mr. Henry Holland, junior, architect, at the cost of more than 1,300l. collected by a brief throughout the county from house to house, and a liberal contribution made by the neighbouring gentry and clergy.
The church of Chart was given to the priory of Leeds, soon after the foundation of it; the tithes of every kind, arising from the demesnes of the lord of the parish of Chart, and also twenty shillings annual pension from the church, to be paid by the hands of the rector of it, for ever, for the maintenance of the infirmary of the priory, being assigned and granted by archbishop Richard to the canons of the priory. (fn. 5)
In the year 1320, Walter, archbishop of Canterbury, appropriated this church to the priory, and then admitted William de Shoreham to the vicarage of this church; at which time he, by his instrument, endowed the vicarage of it as follows: first, he ordained and decreed, that every vicar, for the time being, should receive all oblations and obits according to the altar of the church, which the rectors of it used of old to receive, together with the tithes of wool, lambs, calves, hogs, hay, flax, hemp, mills, pears, apples, milk, milk-meats, sheep, and of whatever was planted and sowed in gardens; and also, that the prior and convent should bear and exonerate all burthens, ordinary and extraordinary, happening to the church, as well in books, vestments, reparations and rebuildings of it, as often as need should require, the procurations of the archdeacon, and other burthens antiently belonging to it, or which might in future be laid on it. And he further decressed, that the prior and convent should assign of the soil of the church, one acre and an half of land, lying conveniently for a dwelling for the vicar, and should build for him on it a convenient house for him and his successors to dwell in, and that they should pay to him and his successors, as an augmentation of his living, forty shillings sterling yearly.
On the dissolution of the priory of Leeds, in the reign of Henry VIII. this parsonage, with the advowson of the vicarage, came into the hands of the crown, and was by the king settled in his 32d year, on his newerected dean and chapter of Rochester, part of whose inheritance it remains at this time.
¶On the abolition of deans and chapters, this parsonage was surveyed by order of the state in 1649, when it was returned, that the parsonage, or manorhouse of the parsonage, consisted of a hall, a parlour, kitchen, cellar, buttery, five chambers, three garrets, one dairy-house, barn and stable, with all the tithes thereto belonging, and the tithes of as much of Suttonpark as lay within the precincts of Chart parish, with a court and barn-yard; the whole being valued at fifty pounds per annum, and let by the dean and chapter, anno 26 Charles I. by lease to Sir Edward Hales, bart. and Sir John Hales, his son, for twenty-one years, at the yearly rent of 13l 11s. 8d. and one good and seasonable brawn every Christmas, but that the premises were worth over and above, upon improvement, 67l. 3s. 10d. and that the tenant was bound to repair and maintain the chancel of the parish church. At which time the vicarage was valued at thirty-five pounds clear yearly income. (fn. 6)
Among the archives of the dean and chapter of Canterbury is a definitive sentence, made at Cranbrook, anno 1400, concerning the custom and method of taking tithes in this parish, made by Thomas, archbishop of Canterbury, in a cause of tithes, between the prior and convent of Ledes and John Hadde, parishioner of this church.
Mrs. Elizabeth Bouverie, of Teston, is the present lessee of this parsonage. The advowson of the vicarage is reserved by the dean and chapter, in their own hands.
The vicarage is valued in the king's books at 8l. 12s. 8½d. and the yearly tenths at 17s. 3¾d. (fn. 7) It is now of the clear yearly certified value of 47l. 11s. 9¼d.
In 1640 it was valued at thirty pounds per annum, Communicants, 212.
The Rev. John Smyth, vicar gave by will in 1732, two hundred pounds as an augmentation, to enable it to receive the benefit of the like sum from queen Anne's bounty, (fn. 8) with which a small farm of twenty pounds per annum in Ashford parish, has been purchased for the benefit of the vicar and his successors.
Made Black Canary's Jacket out of an old cape. Came out better than I thought it would! This 'fig is gonna be epic.
The festival celebrates the finest in both gardening and food. Visitors can expect stunning show gardens and nursery displays alongside a bounty of food producers, shopping and top tips from garden experts and celebrity chefs.
Set against the picturesque Malvern Hills, show gardens are always a number one destination, with five designers being awarded with RHS Gold Medals in 2016.
The Floral Marquee is bursting with examples of the finest nurseries in the UK and abroad, with many old favourites and new varieties on sale.
The foodie hotspot, Festival Food and Drink Pavilion, is a lively market of food producers offering a variety of artisan produce. At the heart is a Kitchen Theatre where celebrity guests and local producers showcase their skills and produce.
Other festival favourites include the School Gardens, Get Going Get Growing pavilion and Family Day (Sunday).
RHS Malvern Spring Festival is a joint partnership with the Royal Horticultural Society and Three Counties Agricultural Society.
An entirely new vision brings RHS Malvern Spring Festival into full bloom for 2017, taking inspiration from the event’s Spa town heritage. The landmark four-day spectacle, taking place from Thursday 11 – Sunday 14 May at the Three Counties Showground, welcomes all new features and exhibits and a vibrant line up of the finest in gardening, food and lifestyle.
Jane Furze, Head of RHS Malvern Spring Festival, said: “We are so excited to share the glorious plans that are afoot for RHS Malvern Spring Festival 2017. It really is going to be a sensational year for our leading event with plenty for everyone. Whether you’re a newcomer to gardening, a veteran horticulturalist or simply looking for a family day out, RHS Malvern Spring Festival has it all. We look forward to welcoming visitors to our stunning showcase of spring in May.”
The new vision for RHS Malvern Spring Festival takes inspiration from Malvern Spa’s Victorian heyday as a fashionable health resort – a place where day-trippers descended to take advantage of the clean air and to enjoy the health giving waters amongst the romantic beauty of the hills and into a town of pleasure gardens, assembly rooms and numerous eating-places.
Promising a bountiful day out for everyone, visitors can expect:
NEW FOR 2017
FLORAL MARQUEE
RHS Malvern Spring Festival boasts the UK’s longest Floral Marquee at over 195 metres – the equivalent length of four Olympic swimming pools. The Floral Marquee welcomes more than 65 leading UK and international nurseries, setting the horticultural standards with impressive displays of prized blooms and new varieties. Exhibitors in the Floral Marquee represent the very best in plants and advice available. Here visitors can browse and buy from the very best.
JOE SWIFT’S PLANT HUNTER PARLOUR
BBC Gardeners’ World presenter and acclaimed garden expert, Joe Swift brings to life a new centerpiece of the Floral Marquee – Joe’s Plant Hunter Parlour. This immersive experience like no other features daily talks from award winning nurseries and welcomes budding gardeners big and small to discover, learn and indulge their inner plant hunter.
LIVE WELL
Newly introduced for the very first time, this dedicated zone interprets and explores the theme of health and wellbeing in the 21st century.
JEKKA MCVICAR’S HEALTH & WELLBEING GARDEN
The centrepiece of the Live Well zone, British Queen of Herbs, Jekka McVicar designs and builds a specially commissioned permanent garden, bringing to life the role gardens continue to play in our health and sense of wellbeing. Jekka’s garden is a living working space for mind, body and senses.
The garden is both a tranquil seating space where visitors can spend time amongst the aromatic herb beds, and a place to learn and explore what living well meant in yesteryear and what it means today. Visitors are invited to join daily ‘herbal conversations’ with Jekka herself and explore the awe-inspiring world of alternative therapies. The garden is in support of Pathways, a day service for adults with learning disabilities and difficulties.
GROW
A horticultural experience by Jon Wheatley, RHS Gold Medal winning gardener and Chairman of RHS South West in Bloom, Grow takes inspiration from interactive Country gardens and wildflower borders, showcasing a variety of edible beds and bountiful Grow To Show competitions.
SPA GARDENS
A brand new category introduced for the very first time to RHS Malvern Spring Festival, offering a unique platform for emerging gardening talent. Glorious gardens from up and coming designers bring to life the new vision and reflect the thirst for knowledge, new horizons and innovative technology at the heart of Malvern’s Victorian heritage. Gold Medal winning Chelsea garden designer, Jo Thompson is mentoring the new talent as they embark on this exciting new challenge. The Spa Gardens category also features one garden from an international designer supported by the esteemed Moscow Flower Show. This is part of a newly introduced exchange programme, which in return offers one selected British Spa Garden designer the once in a lifetime chance to showcase at Moscow Flower Show in July.
INDOOR SHOPPING ARCADES
A premium quality shopping experience, it is here that visitors can pick up unique pieces in fashion, furniture, homewares, horticulture, gifts and more from independent designers, craftsmen, artisans and artists.
PLANT ARCADES
An exciting open-air shopping experience with over 35 nurseries, each showcasing a wonderful array of plants. Plant steals aplenty can be found here, especially during the famous sell-off on Sunday.
MAKING A WELCOME RETURN
FESTIVAL GREEN
The heart of RHS Malvern Spring Festival featuring a colourful array of pleasure gardens, a bandstand of live music, an impressive collection of classic cars, an array of global flavours from the International Street Food Market, and plenty of places to picnic. It is here visitors rediscover the Victorian love of amusement, surprise and delight, alongside enjoying unique show gardens unlike any other.
FESTIVAL THEATRE
Hosted by RHS Malvern Spring Festival favourite and award winning writer and broadcaster, James Alexander-Sinclair, the Festival Theatre plays host to a lively line up of leading experts and familiar faces. Visitors may take a seat and enjoy demonstrations, talks and exciting features as personalities share their knowledge and passion for all things gardening and food. Confirmed experts include Carol Klein, Joe Swift, Jekka McVicar and Jon Wheatley with plenty more to be announced soon.
SHOW GARDENS
The highest standard of garden design is showcased in the Show Gardens of RHS Malvern Spring Festival 2017. Leading designers create awe-inspiring gardens as they compete for prestigious RHS accolades including Gold medals and the coveted Best In Show. RHS Malvern Spring Festival is famed as the show that raises the bar for design and horticultural talent with numerous RHS Gold medals awarded in 2016. This year is tipped to be no exception.
FOOD & DRINK PAVILION
A foodie hotspot, the Food & Drink Pavilion is a magnificent celebration of British tastes with bountiful offerings from the country’s best-loved artisan producers. Expect the freshest field produce, big cheeses, bread of heaven, specialty gins, decadent bakes and more.
KITCHEN GARDEN THEATRE
This animated live kitchen, hosted by Mark Diacono, showcases a line up of delicious cookery demonstrations from culinary experts and the country’s top chefs. Mark shares advice from his home farm cookery school, Otter Farm and experience as head gardener at River Cottage.
YOUNG GARDENER
A hive of activity tailored to inspire the next generation of gardeners and horticulturalists with fun hands-on activities to help children learn and explore the wonderful world of plants and gardens.
FAMILY DAY
Budding gardeners great and small are invited to get green fingered with a dedicated Family Day on the Sunday of RHS Malvern Spring Festival. This exciting and educational day with plenty of hands on activities is the ideal opportunity to engage children in the fun of gardening and the great outdoors. Expect Kids Cookery demonstrations, make and take crafts, Kids Plant and Grow workshops with BBC Blue Peter Gardener, Chris Collins and more.
SCHOOL GARDENS
RHS Malvern Spring Festival is one of the only RHS Shows in the UK to have a collection of Show Gardens designed and built entirely by young people. This year sees over 12 schools and educational groups from across the three counties taking part, led by BBC Blue Peter Gardener, Chris Collins.
RHS Malvern Spring Festival 2017 will take place from Thursday 11 May until Sunday 14 May. For more information, please call 01684 584900 or visit
British Queen of Herbs, Jekka McVicar will unveil the first ever specially commissioned permanent garden at RHS Malvern Spring Festival 2017. A magnificent centrepiece of the celebrated event’s all-new Live Well zone, Jekka’s garden will bring to life the contribution horticulture continues to make to our health and wellbeing in today’s bustling modern world. The Health & Wellbeing Garden will be launched when the show opens its gates on Thursday 11 May at the Three Counties Showground.#
RHS Ambassador for Health through Horticulture, Jekka McVicar said: “I am delighted to have been asked to create a lasting garden for RHS Malvern Spring Festival. I want the Health & Wellbeing Garden to be a usable and beautiful space that is embraced by people of all ages – a space for growth, education and reflection. With the Malvern Hills as a dramatic backdrop, RHS Malvern Spring Festival is such a beautiful place and because it’s at the start of the summer, it’s always a time of such optimism. It is a real privilege to bring this garden to life as part of such a dynamic and exciting show.”
Jekka’s Health & Wellbeing garden, as the focus for the new Live Well Zone, is inspired by the increasing need for reflection and escape from the stresses of modern life. It also seeks to preserve and share the vital knowledge of how horticulture and its associated therapies can help the mind, body and soul. The garden will be a living, working space with a tranquil seating area, where visitors can immerse themselves amongst the aromatic herb beds, and also educate themselves on the place that herbs and horticulture play in today’s society.
Head of RHS Malvern Spring Festival, Jane Furze said: “It is a real pleasure to be working with Jekka to build a garden not only for this year’s event, but also for the future. Jekka’s designs look spectacular and we cannot wait to see these brought to life and shared with our many visitors. The Health & Wellbeing Garden will no doubt be a real highlight of RHS Malvern Spring Festival 2017 and for many years to come.”
Throughout the 4-days of RHS Malvern Spring Festival, Jekka will host daily ‘herb conversations’ in the garden, unearthing hidden gems from the world of alternative therapies, food and gardening. Jekka will also provide insights into herbs as the foundation of modern medicine, seeking to preserve the knowledge that over time is danger of being lost.
The Health & Wellbeing Garden is in support of Pathways, a work-focused day service for adults with learning disabilities and difficulties. Pathways use gardening and the environment as an educational tool to introduce young adults to the working world. Clients of Pathways benefit from gaining vital skills for entering the working world, these include trust, communication, interaction with peers, taking direction and responsibility for themselves and others.
Leaving a legacy, Jekka’s garden will provide Pathways with a nurturing space to continue their works in encouraging clients to grow. Throughout the show times, Pathways will sell plants and refreshments from the garden. Funds raised from these sales go towards covering the costs of the residential trip taken twice each year for clients of Pathways, a vital retreat for clients that contributes to their sense of wellbeing. Outside of show days, Pathways and local schools will host sessions in the garden. The garden aims to inspire visitors of all ages and abilities with engaging elements tailored for all.
Jekka’s design will incorporate the unique and flexible WoodBlocX system, specially selected to provide permanent raised bed structures to house the garden’s vast selection of herbs and edibles. The centrepiece of the garden contains four large planted sections featuring smooth curves constructed from the unique WoodBlocX system. WoodBlocX use sustainable, long-lasting, organic and FSC accredited wooden bricks, which can be used to create any shape such as the naturally fluid curves seen in Jekka’s elegant design.
Considered an unmatched expert by the UK’s top chefs and horticulturalists, Jekka McVicar is an enterprising British herb grower, organic gardening expert, author and broadcaster. Jekka’s Herb Farm, in nearby South Gloucestershire, boasts the largest collection of culinary herbs in the UK with more than 500 different varieties.
Alongside her RHS Ambassadorship for Health through Horticulture, Jekka’s accolades include 62 RHS Gold Medals, Garden Media Guild Lifetime Achievement Award and the RHS Lawrence Medal for the best exhibit shown at any RHS show in 2009. Jekka is also a Vice President of the RHS, Vice President of the Herb Society, is a founder member of the RHS Herb advisory group, and a member of the RHS Three Counties Agricultural Society Joint Committee. Jekka has herself exhibited at RHS Malvern Spring Festival since 1993 and has been a vital contributor to the team at Three Counties for over a decade.
RHS Malvern Spring Festival 2017 will take place from Thursday 11 May until Sunday 14 May. Tickets are now on sale. For more information and to book tickets, please call
I had no idea what to expect at Yalding, either the town or church. Jools realised it was near to West Farleigh, so we went to investigate.
Across what looked like a canal and then the river via an old pack bridge, with the tower of the church on the far bank.
The town, or this part of it, stretched either side of the High Street, and once parked, we approach the church down an alleyway and I see the porch doors open; a good sign.
I explained what I was at the church for: are you going to be long, I was asked.
As quick as I can be.
What I found was a huge parish church, the back of which had been converted into a community space, with a fitted kitchen, wooden floor for use possible as a gym or space for yoga, and the east kept as a fine parish church, filled with monuments, memorials and fine fixtures and fittings. Three wardens were tidying up preparing for Candlemass the next day.
I go round taking shots, taking nearly and hour to do so, as there was so much detail.
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The little cupola on the west tower is topped by a weathervane dated 1734, and summons us to a large church, heavily restored in the 1860s, but worth travelling a long way to see. The nave roof has two interesting features - one is a form of celure or canopy of honour over the third bay from the west. It must have served some long-forgotten purpose. At the east end of the nave there is a real Canopy of Honour in its more usual position over the chancel arch. The south transept contains many interesting features - niches in the walls, bare stonework walls and a good arcaded tomb chest recessed into the south wall. There is a telling string course that suggests a thirteenth-century date, although the two windows in its east wall are Decorated in style. The most recent feature in the church - and by far the most important - is the engraved glass window in the chancel. It was engraved by Laurence Whistler in 1979 and commemorates Edmund Blunden, the First World War poet. It depicts a trench, barbed wire, a shell-burst and verses from Blunden's poems. This feature apart it is the nineteenth-century work that dominates Yalding - especially the awful encaustic tiles with arrow-like designs, the crude pulpit with symbols of the evangelists and the poor quality pews. The glass isn't much better, the Light of the World in the south chancel window being especially poor, but the south window of the south transept (1877) showing scenes from the Life of Christ redeems the state of the art.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Yalding
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YALDING.
NORTH-WESTWARD from Hunton lies Yalding, antiently written Ealding, which signifies the antient meadow or low ground.
Most of this parish is in the hundred of Twyford, and the rest of it, viz. the borough of Rugmerhill, is in the antient demesne of Aylesford. That part of this parish, which holds of the manor of West Farleigh, is in the borough of West Farleigh, and the borsholder thereof ought to be chosen at the court leet there, and so much thereof as is held of the manor of Hunton, is in the borough of Hunton, and the borsholder thereof is chosen at the court leet there; and the inhabitants of neither of these boroughs owe service to the court holden for the hundred of Twyford, within which hundred they both are; but at that court a constable for that hundred may be chosen out of either of these boroughs.
THIS PARISH lying southward of the quarry hills, is within the district of the Weald. It is but narrow, but extends full four miles in length from north to south, the upper or northern part reaches up to the quarry hill adjoining to West Farleigh, near which is Yalding down, on which is a large kiln for the purpose of burning pit coal into coke, which is effected by laying the coal under earth, and when set on fire quenching the cinders; the method is used in making charcoal from wood, the former particularly is much used in the oasts for the drying of hops, so profitably encouraged in this neighbourhood. Below it, near the river Medway, its western boundary in this part, opposite to Nettlested, stands the seat of Sir John Gregory Shaw, bart. a retired, but not an ill chosen situation. It was for several generations the residence of the family of Kinward, which from the reign of king Henry VIII. was possessed of good estates in this parish and its neighbourhood, and bore for their arms, Azure, on a bend or, three roses gules, between three cross-croslets, fitchee argent. Robert Kenward, esq. of Yalding, resided here, and dying in 1720, was buried with the rest of his family in this church; he left a son John, and several daughters, of whom the third, Martha, married the late Sir Gregory Page, bart. and died S. P. John Kenward, esq. the son, died in 1749, leaving by Alicia his wife, youngest daughter of Francis Brooke, esq. of Rochester, one daughter and heir Alicia, who carried this seat and a considerable estate in this neighbourhood to Sir John Shaw, bart. late of Eltham, whose eldest son, Sir John Gregory Shaw, bart. is the present owner of it, and resides here. (fn. 1). In this part of the parish the land is kindly both for corn and hops, of which there are several plantations, and round the down there are some rich grass lands, but further southward where the parish extends to Brenchley, Horsemonden, and Mar den, it is rather a sorlorn country, the land lying very low, and the soil is exceeding wet and miry, and much of it very poor, and greatly subject to rushes, being a stiff unfertile clay; the hedge rows are broad and interspersed with quantities of large spreading oak trees.
The river Medway flows from Tunbridge along the west side of the upper part of this parish as mentioned before, there are across it here two bridges, Twyford and Brandt bridge, leading hither from Watringbury, Nettlested and East Peckham; a small stream, which comes from Marden, and is here called the Twist, flows through the lower part of this parish towards the west side of it, and joins the main river at Twyford bridge, which extends over both of them; another larger stream being a principal head of the Medway flowing from Style-bridge by Hunton clappers, separating these two parishes, joins the main river, about a quarter of a mile below Twyford bridge; on the conflux of these two larger streams the town of Yalding is situated, having a long narrow stone bridge of communication from one part of the town to the other, on the opposite bank of the Hunton stream. Leland who lived in king Henry the VIIIth.'s reign, calls it a a praty townelet, to which however at present it has no pretensions. The church and court-lodge stand at the north end of the town. A fair is held in it on WhitMonday, and on October 15, yearly. The high road over Teston bridge, and through West Farleigh, leads through the town, and thence southward along the hamlets of Denover and Collens-street to Marden; at a small distance from the former is the borough of Rugmarhill, esteemed to be within the antient demesne of Aylesford, belonging to Mrs. Milner.
Adjoining the town southward is Yalding lees, over which there is another high road, which leads from Twyford bridge, parallel with the other before-mentioned, along the hamlet of Lodingford, and thence through the lower part of this parish towards Brenchley, near the boundaries of which in this parish is an estate still called Oldlands, which appears in king Edward II's reign to have been part of the demesne lands of the manor of Yalding, for he then confirmed to the priory of Tunbridge a rent charge to be received out of the asserts of the old and new lands of the late Richard de Clare, in Dennemannesbrooke, which he had given to it on its foundation; lower down, close to the stream of the Twist, is the manor house of Bockingsold, the lands of which extend across the river into Brenchley and Horsemonden and other parishes.
A third high road over Brandt bridge passes along the western bounds of this parish, over Betsurn-green towards Lamberhurst and Sussex.
A new commission of sewers under the great seal, was not many years ago obtained to scour and cleanse that branch of the river Medway, or if I may so call it, the Yalding river from Goldwell in Great Chart, through Smarden, Hunton, and other intermediate parishes to its junction with the Rain river, at a place called Stickmouth, a little below the town of Yalding.
The commissioners for the navigation of the river Medway, about twenty years ago, made a navigable cut or canal, from a place in the river called Hampsted, where they judiciously constructed a lock to a place in the river near Twyford bridge, where they erected a tumbling bay for the water, when at a certain height, to pass over. The contrivance of this cut from one bend or angle of the river to the other, is of the greatest utility to the navigation, by not only shortening the passage, but by baying up a convenient depth of water, which they could not have had along the lees, and other adjoining low lands on each side of that part of the river, which is avoided by it, or at least not without a very great expence.
At the river here the barges are loaded with timber, great guns, bullets, &c. for Chatham and Sheerness docks, London, and other parts, and bring back coals, and other commodities for the supply of the neighbouring country.
In 1757 a large eel was caught in the river here, which measured five feet nine inches in length, and eighteen inches in girt, and weighed upwards of forty pounds.
THE MANOR OF YALDING, or Ealding, as it was usually written, was, after the conquest, part of the possessions of the eminent family of Clare, who became afterwards earls of Gloucester and Hertford, (fn. 2) the ancestor of whom, Richard Fitz Gilbert, came into England with William the Conqueror, and gave him great assistance in the memorable battle of Hastings, and in respect of his near alliance in blood to the king, he was advanced to great honor, and had large possessions bestowed upon him, both in Normandy and England; among the latter was this estate of Yalding, as appears from the survey of Domesday, taken in the 15th year of the Conqueror's reign, in which it is thus entered, under the title of Terra Richardi F. Gislebti:
Richard de Tonebridge holds Ealdinges, and Aldret held it of king Edward, and then and now it was taxed at two sulings. The arable land is sixteen carucates. There are two churches (viz. Yalding and Brenchley) and fifteen servants, and two mills of twenty-five shillings, and four fisheries of one thousand and seven hundred eels, all but twenty. There are five acres of pasture, and wood for the pannage of one hundred and fifty hogs.
In the time of king Edward the Consessor, and afterwards, it was worth thirty pounds, now twenty pounds, on account of the lands lying waste to that amount.
The above-mentioned Richard Fitz Gilbert, at the latter end of the Conqueror's reign, was usually called Richard de Tonebridge, from his possessions and residence there, and his descendants took the name of Clare, for the like reason of their possessing that honor. His descendant, Gilbert, son of Richard de Clare, earl of Gloucester and Hertford, owned it in the reign of king Henry III. and in the 21st year of Edward I. he claimed before the justices itinerant, and was allowed all the privileges of a manor.
¶Gilbert de Clare, earl of Gloucester and Hertford, his son, by Joane, of Acres, king Edward I.'s daughter, succeeded to it, and dying in the 7th year of king Edward II. without surviving issue, his three sisters became his coheirs, and on the partition of their inheritance, this manor, among others in this county, was allotted to Margaret, the second sister, then wife of Hugh de Audley, junior, who in the 12th year of Edward II. obtained for his manor of Ealding, a market to be held here weekly, and a fair to continue three days yearly, viz. the vigil, the day of the feast of St. Peter and St. Paul, and the day subsequent to it. He died in the 21st year of it, holding this manor, which he held for his life, by the law of England, of the king in capite. He left an only daughter and heir Margaret, then the wife of Ralph Stafford, who in her right became possessed of the manor of Yalding, and was a man greatly esteemed by king Edward III. who among other marks of his favor, in his 24th year, advanced him to the title of earl of Stafford.
After which it continued in his descendants down to his great grandson, Humphry Stafford, who was created duke of Buckingham anno 23 Henry VI. whose grandson Henry, duke of Buckingham, having put himself in arms against king Richard, in favor of Henry, earl of Richmond, and being deserted by his army, had concealed himself in the house of one Ralph Banister, who had been his servant, who on the king's proclamation of a reward of 1000l. or 100l. per annum, for the discovering of the duke, betrayed him, and he was without either arraignment or judgment, beheaded at Salisbury.
YALDING is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Rochester and deanry of Malling.
The church, which is a large handsome building, consists of three isles and a large chancel, with a square tower at the west end. Against the south wall in it is a very antient altar tomb, which has been much desaced, on which is remaining, Ermine, a bend gules. There was formerly a brass plate on it. On a large stone in the middle isle, is a memorial for Robert Penhurst, descended from Sir Robert Penhurst, of Penhurst, in Suffex, who died in 1610. The arms, on a shield, a mullet. In the chancel there is a handsome monument for the family of Warde, who bore for their arms, Azure, a cross flory or, and one for the family of Kenward, in this parish. In the pavement of the church are several large broad stones, a kind of petrifaction of the testaceous kind, dug up in the moors or low lands in this parish.
Richard de Clare, earl of Hertford, gave the church of Aldinges, with the chapel of Brenchesley, and all their appurtenances, in pure and perpetual alms, to the priory of Tunbridge, lately founded by him.
Gilbert de Glanvill, bishop of Rochester, who came to that fee in the 31st year of king Henry II. confirmed this gift, and granted, that the prior and canons should possess the appropriation of this church in pure and perpetual alms; saving a perpetual vicarage in it, granted by his authority, with the assent and presentation of the prior and canons as follows:
That the vicar should have the altarage, and all obventions, and small tithes belonging to this church, and all houses, which were within the court, and the land belonging to the church, together with the tenants and homages, and the alder-bed, and the tithes of sheaves of Wenesmannesbroke, and the tithes of Longesbroke, of the new assart, and the moiety of meadow belonging to the church; all which were granted to him, to hold under the yearly pension of two shillings, duly to be paid to the prior and canons; and that the vicar should sustain all episcopal burthens and customs, as well for the prior and canons as for himself. And he granted to the prior and canons as part of the appropriation, the tithes of sheaves of this church, excepting the said tithes of Wenesmannesbroke, and of Longebroke; and that they should have the moiety of the meadow belonging to the church, with the fisheries, and the place in which the two greater barns stood, with the barns themselves, and the whole outer court in which the stable stood, with the garden which was towards the east, and the small piece of land which lay by the garden, and the rent of four-pence, which ought to be paid yearly to the court of Eyles forde; reserving to himself the power of altering the endowment of this vicarage, if at any time it should seem expedient; saving, nevertheless, all episcopal rights to the bishop of Rochester, &c. (fn. 16)
The church of Yalding, together with the advowson of the vicarage, remained with the priory of Tunbridge, till the suppression of it, in the 17th year of king Henry VIII. when being one of those smaller monasteries which cardinal Wolsey had obtained for the endowment of his colleges, it was surrendered into his hands, with all the possessions belonging to it.
After which the king granted his licence to him, in his 18th year, to appropriate and annex this church, among others of the cardinal's patronage, to the dean and canons of the college founded by him in the university of Oxford. But here it staid only four years, when this great prelate being cast in a præmunire in 1529, the estates of that college were forfeited to the king, and became part of the royal revenue.
¶Queen Elizabeth, in her 10th year, granted the rectory or parsonage of Yalding, and the advowson of the vicarage, for thirty years, to Mr. John Warde, at the yearly rent of thirty pounds, in whose possession they continued till king James I. in his 5th year, granted the see of them to Richard Lyddale and Edward Bostock, at the like yearly rent, (fn. 17) and they soon afterwards alienated them to Ambrose Warde, gent. of this parish, son of John above-mentioned, in whose descendants they continued down till they came into the possession of three brothers, Thomas, of Littlebrook, in Stone; George and Ambrose, among whose descendants they came afterwards to be divided, and again sub-divided in different shares, one third part to captain Thomas Amhurst, of Rochester; one third of a third part, and a third of a sixth part to Mr. Holmes, of Derby; Mr. Ambrose Ward, of Littlebrook, and the Rev. Mr. Richard Warde, late of Oxford, each alike, and the remaining sixth part by the Rev. Mr. John Warde, the present vicar of this parish, who some years ago rebuilt the vicarage-house in a very handsome manner.
This rectory now pays a yearly fee-farm rent of thirty pounds to the crown.
It is valued in the king's books, at 20l. 18s. 9d. and the yearly tenths at 2l. 1s. 10½d.
There are two separate manors, one belonging to the rectory or parsonage, and the other to the vicarage of this church.
I was last here on a cold and grey day at the beginning or March.
Graveney stretches along the road, but All Saints sits on a quiet bend, and felt wonderfully isolated.
And not at all friendly, I have to say. It was locked, as expected, so I took aome outside shots and we moved on eatwards, but somehow I really wanted to see inside here, just to see if it could be warmer than it felt on that March morning.
I parked beside the road, I saw the door of the porch open, and a light filled space beyond.
Looked good....
The church was a hive of activity, with some people getting a table-top sale ready, others boiling the kettle and unpacking cakes for refreshments, whilst two others greeted me, and I was given my own tour.
Nooks and crannies everywhere, including an alcove in the north chapel, which must have held a figure, now as an artwork of the cross made my medieval nails found during restoration work.
Two panels of the original rood screen were still inside, though hidden away, and one had rings of concentric circles, to confuse the devil, I was told.
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The Victorians did not leave too much of a mark here, for the mellow red tiles, box pews and ledger slabs remain. There is a heavy medieval rood screen and the empty north and south aisles allow us to appreciate the building as it might originally have appeared. In the north aisle is a memorial brass to John Martyn (d. 1436) with cathedral-like proportions, being over 56 in long.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Graveney
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GRAVENEY
LIES the next parish north-westward from Hernehill. It was called in the time of the Saxons, Graven-ea, and afterwards, by corruption of language, Gravenel, in like manner as Oxney, Pevensey, and Rumency, were corruptly called Oxenel, Pevensel, and Rumenel; (fn. 1) the name of it denoting its low and watery situation, and it is now, by contraction, usually called Grainey.
IT LIES about two miles from the high London road, on the north side of it, at the 48th mile-stone, the parish of Goodnestone intervening, in a low country adjoining the marshes, of which there is a large quantity, both fresh and salt within it, Faversham creek and the Swale being the western and northern boundaries of it. The soil of it various, there being in the level part some rich tillage land, and on the rises or small hills in it, a light soil of both sand and gravel. The church stands in the eastern part of the parish, having Graveneycourt, with an antient gateway, and numerous offices, singularly built round it, well worth observation, as denoting its former respectable state. In the western part is Nagdon, adjoining to Faversham creck, having a decoy for wild fowl, and a large quantity of marsh land belonging to it. There is but little thoroughfare here, and no village, the houses being interspersed straggling throughout it. Upon the whole though unhealthy, it has not an unpleasant aspect, being well cloathed with trees, especially elm, which are very thriving here, and in great plenty; the roads are remarkably well taken care of, as are the poor, and the whole parish seems to thrive well under the care of the inhabitants of Graveney-court. There are some parts of this parish separated from the rest by those of Faversham and Goodneston intervening.
There are several scarce plants observed by Mr. Jacob in this parish, and enumerated in this Plantæ Favershamienses.
THE ARCHBISHOP'S paramount manor of Boughton claims over the whole of this parish, as being within that hundred, subordinate to which is the manor of Graveney.
In the year 811, Wlfred, archbishop of Canterbury, purchased this place of Cenulph, king of Mercia, who had made the kingdom of Kent tributary to him, for the use of Christ-church, Canterbury, as appears by the leiger book of that priory, and that it was given L. S. A. that is, Libere Sicut Adisham, with the same liberties, immunities, and privileges that Adisham was. Soon after which, one Werhard, a powerful priest, and kinsman to the archbishop, found means to gain possession of it, and kept it till that prelate's death in 830, when Feogild succeeding to the see of Canterbury, though he sat in it but three months, yet in that time he compelled Werhard to restore Gravene then computed at thirty-two hides of land, to the church; and it was afterwards confirmed to it in anno 941, by king Edmund, Eadred his brother, and Edwyn son of the latter; (fn. 2) and it remained part of the revenues of Christchurch at the coming of archbishop Lanfranc to that see in 1070, when on his division of them, between himself and the monks of his church, this manor fell to his share, of whom it was afterwards held by knight's service. In which state it continued at the time of taking the survey of Domesday, anno 1080, in which it is thus entered, under the general title of Terra Militum Archiepi, that is, land held of the archbishop by knight's service.
In Boltune hundred the same Richard (who owed fealty to the archbishop) held of the archbishop Gravenel. It was taxed for one suling. The arable land is. In demesne there is one carucate, and eight villeins, with ten borderers having two carucates. There are five servants, and ten acres of meadow, and four saltpits of four shillings. In the time of king Edward the Confessor, and afterwards, it was worth one hundred shillings, now six pounds, of these the monks of Canterbury have twenty shillings.
Who this Richard was I do not find, though Somner calls him Ricardus Constabularius; however, it is not improbable, but he might afterwards adopt the surname of Gravene, from his having the possession of this place; certain it is, that it was afterwards held by a family who took their name from it. William de Gravene held it in the reign of king Henry III. of the archbishop, as one knight's fee. John de Gravene died possessed of it in the 56th year of the same reign, after which it became the property of the family of Feversham.
Thomas de Feversham died possessed of it in the beginning of the reign of king Edward III. leaving Joane his wife surviving, and in the window of the north chancel were formerly the arms of Feversham, A fess chequy, or, and gules, between six crosses, bottony, or; and underneath, Thomas Feversham, susticiar, & Johanna Uxor. ejus; on the pavement is a stone with two half-figures in brass for them, with an inscription round it in old French, part of which is gone; probably that which Weever mentions. (fn. 3) She afterwards entitled her second husband Sir Roger de Northwood to this manor, during her life; accordingly he paid aid for it in the 20th year of that reign, as one knight's see, which he held in right of his wife, of the archbishop, which was formerly held by Richard de Gravene. After her death her son Richard de Feversham succeeded to this manor, of which he died possessed in 1381, and was buried in this church, having married the daughter of Robert Dodde. His tomb, of Bethersden marble, remains against the south wall. In the south chancel, on the top, were two figures, and four coats of arms, the brasses gone; round the edge is this inscription, in brass, Ora pro aibs Roberti Dodde & Rici de Feuersham filii sui quonda dni de Gravene obiit, &c. Above the tomb, is a recess in the wall, with an antient carved arch above it. He had a daughter Joane, who became his heir, and married John Botiller, esq. and in her right became entitled to this manor, she died in 1408, and was buried in the south chancel here, her figure in brass on her gravestone is gone, but the inscription still remains. By her he had a son of his own name. Either he or his father was sheriff anno 22 king Richard II. John Botiller, esq the son, was knight of the shire in the 1st year of king Henry V.'s reign. They bore for their arms, Sable, three covered cups, or, within a bordure, argent; and John Botiller, probably the father, was esquire to archbishop Courtney, and mentioned in his will, proved anno 1396, being the 20th of Richard II.
There is a gravestone in the south chancel here, which most probably was for John Botiller the son; on it was his figure in brass, now gone, and four coats of arms; the two first are gone, the third Botiller, the fourth Feversham, a fess chequy, between six crosses, bottony, or. The inscription was remaining in Weever's time. This stone, I am informed, was some years ago removed out of the north chancel hither, and in the window of this chancel is this coat of arms, quarterly, first, Botiller, as above; second and third, a fess chequy, or, and gules, in chief three crosses, bottony, or; the bottom part being broken, the fourth is likewise broken. Underneath are these words remaining, Johes er, & Jonna ux ejs. Joane his wife was daughter and heir of William de Frogenhall, by whom he had a daughter and sole heir Anne, who carried it in marriage to John Martyn, judge of the common pleas, the son of Richard Martyn, of Stonebridge, who built much at his seat of Graveney court, where he partly resided. (fn. 4) He died in 1436, leaving his widow surviving, who then became again possessed of this manor in her own right. She afterwards married Thomas Burgeys, esq. whom she likewise survived, and dying in 1458 was buried beside her first husband in the north chancel of this church. His gravestone is of a very large size, and is most richly inlaid with brass, which is well preserved, having the figures of him and his wife, and other ornaments over the whole of it. There were four coats of arms, only the second of which, that of Boteler, is remaining. He bore for his arms, Argent, on a chevron, gules, three talbot bounds, passant, or. Her second husband Thomas Burgeys died in 1452, and was buried in the same chancel, where his gravestone remained till within these few years. At the upper end of the stone are two coats in brass, first Boteler impaling Frogenhall; second, a fess chequy impaling the like. Another coat, at the bottom, is gone, as is his figure.
In the descendants of Judge Martyn, residents at Graveney-court, this manor continued down to Robert Martyn, who likewise resided here, and died in the first year of Edward VI. (fn. 5) leaving his two daughters, Joane, married to Richard Argall, and Elizabeth to Stephen Reames, of Faversham, his coheirs. From them this manor was passed away by sale to John Pordage, of Rodmersham, in whose name it continued till it was at length sold to Daniel Whyte, esq. of Vinters, in Boxley, whose descendant of the same name, about the beginning of king George II.'s reign, alienated it to Mr. Edward Blaxland, who afterwards resided here, and bore for his arms, on a fess, three falcous volant, jessed and belled. He died in 1739. This occasioned this manor to be separated in several divisions and again afterwards in further subdivisions, among his descendants, in which state it now remains; but those of the male line of the name of Blaxland, still continue to reside at it. From the beginning of the last century to the middle of it, the Napletons, a family of good account in these parts of the county, were lessees of Graveney-court, and resided at it; and from that time to the latter end of it, the Houghhams were occupiers of it, and resided here. Many of both families lie buried in this church, as do all the Blaxlands, since their coming to the possession of this estate.
NAGDEN, formerly spelt Negdon, is a noted estate in the north-west part of this parish, consisting mostly of marsh land, which was once part of the endowment of the abbey of Faversham, and continued amongst the revenues of it till its final dissolution in the 30th year of Henry VIII. at which time it was valued at eight pounds per annum.
This estate thus coming into the hands of the crown, was granted by the king next year to Sir Thomas Cheney, lord warden, to hold in capite, who alienated it, in the 36th year of that reign, to Robert Martyn, of Graveney-court, who died in the first year of king Edward VI. (fn. 6) leaving his two daughters his coheirs, Joane, married to Richard Argall, and Elizabeth to Stephen Reames, who jointly possessed this estate. After which both these moieties seem to have been conveyed to Ciriac Petit, of Colkins, in this neighbourhood, who died possessed of the entire see of it in 1591, and in his descendants it continued down to Mr. William Petit, who in 1709 conveyed it by sale to dame Sarah Barrett, of Lee, widow, who died in 1711, upon which this estate came to her only son by her first husband, Sir Francis Head, bart. who died possessed of it in 1716. (fn. 7) He left four sons, who became entitled to this estate on their father's death, as coheirs in gavelkind. On the death of the eldest Sir Richard Head, bart. in 1721, his share devolved to his three brothers. James Head, esq. died afterwards intestate in 1727, and unmarried, on which Sir Francis Head, bart. and John Head, D. D. became possessed of it in undivided moieties, and the latter that same year conveyed his moiety of it to the former, who in 1745 sold the entire fee of it to John Smith, esq. of Faversham, who has since conveyed it to his son, John Smith, junior, esq. of Ospringe, the present possessor of it. The estate of Nagden pays nine shillings per annum, on Lammas day, to the vicar of Graveney, in lieu of tithes.
Charities.
On a tablet in the church, the benefactions of several pieces of land are recorded, amounting in the whole to upwards of four acres. These are put up as benefactions to the church; but by the information of the clerk, they belonged to the poor, to whom the yearly produce of them was distributed till of late. It is now applied to the repairs of the church.
The poor constantly relieved are about ten, casually 25.
GRAVENEY is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Ospringe.
The church is dedicated to All Saints, and consists of three isles and a high chancel, and two side ones formerly called chapels, the south one being dedicated to St. John, and the north one to the Virgin Mary. The steeple, which is a tower, stands at the north-west corner. In it are three bells. The antient gravestones in this church have been removed from where they originally laid, to make room for the present ones. Thus that of John Martyn, as I am informed, has been removed out of the north into the south chancel. In this north chancel they have been likewise still further displaced; there are now two rows of gravestones in it, lying three and three. In the west row are now, the first southward, Judge Martyn's; the second, Mr. Edward Blaxland's, who died in 1739; and the third, Thomas Burgeys, esq. For the making room for Mr. E. Blaxland's, Judge Martyn's stone was removed from the middle or second place to the first, where before his son's lay, till removed to the south chancel. This practice, of disturbing the ashes of the dead, as is but too frequent in churches of late, calls loudly for some authority to prevent it in future.
The church of Graveney, with the advowson of the vicarage, was in very early times part of the possessions of the priory of St. Mary Overies, in Southwark, with which it continued till the final dissolution of it in the 31st year of king Henry VIII. when it came into the hands of the crown, together with all the revenues and estates belonging to it.
The parsonage remained in the crown some years longer than the advowson of the vicarage, as will be mentioned hereafter, that is, till the 3d year of queen Elizabeth, when the queen granted this rectory, being then valued at 7l. 6s. 8d. yearly rent, to archbishop Parker and his successors, in exchange for other premises. (fn. 8) Since which it has continued part of the possessions of the see of Canterbury to this time.
This parsonage has been from time to time demised on a beneficial lease, at the above yearly rent. In 1643 Mrs. Elizabeth Robinson, widow, was tenant of it. John Baker, esq. of St. Stephen's, near Canterbury, is the present lessee of it.
But the advowson of the vicarage did not continue so long in the crown, for it was granted, among others, in 1558, to the archbishop and his successors, (fn. 9) with whom it now continues, his grace the archbishop being now patron of it.
This vicarage is valued in the king's books at fifty pounds, and the yearly tenths at 1l. 4s. per annum. In 1578 there were communicants here ninety. In 1640 the communicants were sixty-five, and it was valued at sixty pounds per annum.
In the year 1244 archbishop Boniface, on the presentation of the prior and convent of St. Mary Overies, as appears by an antient book belonging to it, instituted Ralph, the curate of Gravene, to the perpetual vicarage of this parish, so that he should receive and take in the name of it, all fruits and oblations, with all other things belonging to the church, excepting two sheaves of the tithe, and should take the same to his own use.
In the same manuscript, on a dispute between the prior and convent, rectors of this church, and Richard, lord of Gravenel, concerning tithes in this parish, it was decreed in 1283, before the rural dean of Ofpringe, that the vicar should receive, in the name of the religious, as well as in his own right, all tithes arising in future from the feedings and pastures in his own marshes, called North-marsh and Leved-marsh, which should be paid to him without any cavil or exception. (fn. 10)
The vicar has a house and two acres of glebe land.
¶The vicarage is worth about fifty pounds per annum. He is entitled, by the above composition, to all tithes, excepting the two sheaves mentioned in it, and by prescription likewise; which third part of the corn tithes is now usually known by the name of the vicar's third sheaf. But the impropriator's lease being for all the tithes of the parish, without any such exception, has occasioned many quarrels and disputes about this third sheaf, which are now entirely subsided, and the vicar is accustomed to take one shock out of every thirty shocks of corn, in right of his vicarage.
Max Photography for GDC Online
GDC Online 2012 (Wed, 10/10)
Smartphone and Tablet Summit
One Year of Bejeweled Blitz-Learning to Expect the Unexpected
Giordano Contestabile
Promise Fulfilled, Accomplishment Achieved at WSSU Commencement on May 14
WINSTON-SALEM, NC -- For Jeanette Valentine, earning her bachelor’s degree in business administration will be fulfilling on many levels.
Valentine, 50, is one of the approximately 1,000 undergraduate and graduate students who are expected to participate in WSSU’s Spring Commencement exercises on May 14 at 9:45 a.m. in the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Stephen A. Smith, noted journalist, media personality and motivational speaker, will be the keynote speaker.
Commencement will mark a special satisfaction not just because Valentine, a travel audit officer in WSSU’s accounting department, will be graduating with her 24-year-old son William R. Valentine. It’s because of a long-time promise fulfilled. Valentine made the promise to her mother back in 1978. Her mother and father never graduated from high school. When Valentine’s mother, who was battling cancer, asked her to promise she would graduate college, Valentine did. Valentine’s mother died two weeks before she graduated high school. Valentine was devastated over losing her mother.
“I started school at WSSU that year, but it lasted only one semester. I didn’t have the drive. I was still too distressed and overcome by my mother’s death. I couldn’t focus on school,” Valentine said.
Instead, Valentine got married, had two children and eventually went to work at a few jobs before coming to work at WSSU in 2006. In 2007, she decided to return to school since her children were adults. At the same time, her son who graduated high school in 2004 was thinking about returning to college after quitting previously. By fall 2007, both with full-time jobs returned to school at WSSU. He was an exercise science major and she was in the School of Business and Economics.
“He was so career focused on his job and he was doing well. But I kept pushing him and telling him he had to get a degree. I was thrilled he came back to school and that we were in school at the same time. It was exciting,” said Valentine.
Eventually Valentine saw her son was distracted by work. They talked and it was he who asked they agree to push each other so they could graduate at the same time.
That time is now. Valentine is thrilled they are graduating together. She says it feels like she has kept the promise made to her mother times two.
“In addition to the accomplishment, it may be quite an emotional day,” Valentine said.
Valentine is a member of Beta Gamma Sigma, the international honor society for collegiate schools of business as well as Alpha Sigma Lambda, a national honor society for Adult Learners in Continuing Higher Education. She plans to pursue her master’s degree at Liberty University.
Extraordinary Journey
It will be a festive ending to an extraordinary journey for Jerrica Scott, 24, of Winston-Salem. For Scott, commencement will symbolize the end of a passage marked by limitations, fear and uncertainty. It will be a celebration of a personal renaissance, driven by a theme that anything is possible with faith, passion and purpose.
“No matter how bad things may look, you can make a difference in your own life and the lives of others if you work really hard and know things can change. Soon things may look different, then not so bad, better, even good.”
Scott’s journey is verification of her belief. She entered WSSU to earn a four-year bachelor’s degree in elementary education six years ago as a single teen-aged mom. During that time as a full-time student, living on her own with her young daughter, she worked full-time, changed majors multiple times, quit school, got married, had another child, returned to school, made up a semester of credits lost when she quit and found her way back to the major that gave her the purpose.
“Just before I started my freshman year, I could hear people saying now that I had a baby as a teenager, my life was over or I wouldn’t get very far,” noted Scott. “Because I got pregnant in high school and had a baby in my first year of college, it didn’t mean I would be a failure. I did not want to be the stereotype of a young single mom who would work only at fast food restaurants or be on welfare the rest of her life.”
Although Scott was determined, she became distracted during her second year.
“I was failing classes miserably. I was living on my own and I was 18 years old. I felt lost and beaten, so I quit school,” Scott said who worked as a waitress. “Then one day, my manager told me the biggest thing he regretted was not finishing school. So if you don’t want to be waiting tables for the rest of your life, you need to go back to school. “
That was the turning point for Scott. She also thought about her mother, a cosmetologist, who always stressed the importance of education and often expressed interest in wanting her children to be greater than she. Scott soon quit her job and returned to school. Her best friend and others helped her find her way back to the major that aligned with where her talents and passions had always been -- elementary education.
“My best friend told me this is what I suppose to be doing. She told me we are going over there right now and you are going to get enrolled back into school. I just thank her,” said Scott.
Then she met a good man who cared about her and her daughter. It was like an unattainable dream. They soon married. Her second daughter was born in 2010. Now in school and completely focused on her education, Scott delivered the baby on a Friday and returned class on Monday.
Scott is currently working as a substitute teacher and searching for a fulltime permanent teaching job. She is also going to be the “first in my family to graduate college.”
Multiple Job Offers Early in Her Senior Year
Information technology major Kristen Dunlap, 21, of Charlotte, has accomplished a standout achievement, even before she completed her last year of college. In this challenging economy, she had two job offers from Fortune 500 companies one before her senior year, the other early in her senior year. She selected one position which she will begin this summer.
Dunlap attributes her success to internships, which she began participating in back in her freshman year. That first one was a summer research experience for undergraduate WSSU computer science students at WSSU, funded by NASA. She used, GIS visualization tools to visualize North Carolina weather patterns. The goal of the summer program was to expose students to researching skills and help to develop their problem solving and critical thinking skills.
For her second year, Dunlap interned at the NASA Langley, Va., facility where she worked as a liaison between the technology and client teams for the database tracking system used to manage NASA’s contractual projects.
For summer 2010, she was an intern at Altria Client Services in Richmond ,Va., where she worked on data archiving to consolidate previous and current information to migrate to a new system.
“You can never underestimate the value of internships. I started utilizing the WSSU Career Services office in my second year. My parents always told me to be aggressive at seeking job opportunities. I didn’t want to be a person to work hard for four years and have no job in the end,” Dunlap said.
She will start her new job at Altria Client Services as an IT assistant analyst.
The Entertainment Mogul
Erikka Rainey, 22, of Philadelphia wants to be a female Sean “P-Diddy” Combs. In fact, she has wanted to be an entertainment mogul from a very young age. As a child, she dabbled in music and even took classes, but by age 14, she knew wholeheartedly that she wanted to be on the business side of the music industry.
“When I first learned about P-Diddy, I knew that was where I wanted my future to be,” said Rainey. “I look up to P- Diddy because I’m working to be the first female to start a record label, then restaurants, clothing lines and television shows.”
When she sees a famous entertainer, she wonders what sort of things they did in their career to get famous. If not famous, she wonders what it would take to make them famous. While at WSSU she jumped at every opportunity to market and promote musical artists and events. She worked with Hidden Beach Recordings to promote events for a new CD. She passed out flyers and did social media and internet marketing for jazz artist Monette Sudler of Philadelphia this past summer.
“If there’s one thing I live by, it’s take advantage of all opportunities. Don’t close yourself off to anything. You never know what you will learn that can be the key to your future,” Rainey said.
An honor student, Rainey will be attending New York University’s (NYU) music business program in the fall. She plans to maintain at least one home in New York City after graduate school when her career kicks off.
I never study a church before I go, maybe that's a fault on my part because I might miss something important and so have to go back. But for me, it's the wonder as you walk through the porch or door into the church, not knowing what to expect.
St Mary's looks like a typical Suffolk church from the outside, nice proportioned tower, good quality flint knapping. And yet once you enter, your breath is taken away by the glorious restored ceiling.
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It is not easy to find Huntingfield; even the signposts do not bear its name until you are within the parish boundary. Yet this shallow valley, divided by the infant river Blyth, with church and parsonage on one bank and manor house on the other, has been owned by some notable families in England's history.
The church is a Grade 1 Listed Building, largely due to its amazing Victorian painted ceiling.
The existing church certainly dates from the 11th century but there are signs that there had been a chapel here long before.
Some fragments of carved stones are set into the wall of the tower. At the beginning of this century they were turned up by a ploughman in a field called 'Chapel Field', a little to the south of the present church. They are fragments from a Saxon stone coffin and standing cross of the 10th century, long since disappeared.
The oldest part of the church is the wall between the nave and the north aisle which was the solid outer wall of the original twelfth century church. That church would have been small and dark, the whole building probably standing within the area of the present nave. The light would have come from small high windows of which one still remains above the two round-headed arches.
This wall has been altered at least twice. It was first broken through when the north aisle was built, and again in the nineteenth century when the arches were given their present 'Norman' curves. That first church was built by the family who took their name from the village and lived in the manor for 250 years, the Lords de Huntingfield.
The chancel was added in the thirteenth century.
By the end of the fourteenth, the south side of the nave had been altered and both aisles had been built in the fashionable Gothic style with its pointed arches. The five small high, or clerestory, windows on the south side of the nave would have provided light into the nave, the advent of affordable glass having made such things possible.
The east window of the south aisle has all that remains of the medieval glass that would once have filled many of the windows. There is a record of what was still to be seen here in the sixteenth century which lists the memorial windows with the coats of arms borne by the families who once owned the Manor.
The windows of the south aisle are particularly pretty and date from the fifteenth century. Their Perpendicular style is indicated by their familiar flat-topped shape. The porch is also from the fifteenth century.
The font dates from the fourteenth century.
The ceiling painting is very special and is explained on a separate page. The work was carried out in the 19th century while William Holland was rector. At the same time the organ and vestry were added with the Vanneck family vault beneath.
The ceiling is a masterpiece of Victorian church decoration, painted from end to end in brilliant colours, with carved and coloured angels, with banners, crowns and shields, all in the medieval style and of a most intricate and detailed finish.
The scheme of decoration is important as it reflects the ecclestiastical devotion of the late Victorian period clergy and their patrons, combined with the heightened liturgical practices of the Oxford Movement.
It was painted by Mildred Holland, the wife of William Holland who was rector for 44 years from 1848 until his death in 1892. The church was closed for eight months from September 1859 to April 1860 while she painted the chancel roof. Tradesmen provided scaffolding and prepared the ceiling for painting but there is no record to show that she had any help with the work, and legend has it that she did much of it lying on her back. We may imagine Victorian ladies wearing tight laced corsets and many petticoats, and wonder how she managed the ladders, scaffolding and hard labour of painting. She had an adviser on her schemes, a Mr. E. L. Blackburne F.S.A., an authority on medieval decoration.
The twelve large panels of the chancel ceiling each show an angel holding either a scroll with the words of the canticle 'Blessed be the Lord God of Israel', or the emblems of the Passion: the cross, the hammer and nails, the scourge, the lance, the crown of thorns and the reed.
Two pelicans in their piety (pecking their breasts to feed their young) are in the last small panels.
Between the beam ends of the chancel roof there are Bible verses in Gothic lettering,
then two tiers of panels; the lower have pictures of the Lamb of God alternating with`the Keys of Heaven. Above, are crowned monograms.
Above the Chancel Arch, the Lamb of God is depicted with the words 'Glory, Honour, Praise and Power unto the Lamb for Ever and Ever', lines taken from the Book of Revelation.
Three years later Mildred Holland began to paint again in the nave. In 1866 her husband William makes a note 'scaffolding finally taken down, September Ist'. The whole cost of repairing the nave roof, preparing it for painting and for materials amounted to £247.10s.7d of which £16.7s.6d was for 225 books of gold leaf and £72 for colours. William Holland's notes show that between 1859 and 1882 a total of £2,034. 10s.0d was spent on the church restoration, of which, apparently, he gave all but £400.
Recent research has found the complete record of William Holland's work in restoring and furnishing the church. These are available for interested students.
The figures on the nave roof are of the twelve apostles and two female saints. Each is painted in the lower tier with their traditional symbols and again in the upper tier clothed in heavenly raiment holding scrolls bearing their names.
Note that Saints Margaret and Andrew are both included as there is a tradition that these two saints were specially venerated here. There are niches for statues in the south aisle which may have held statues of them. The cult of St Margaret of Antioch grew in the 10th century and her veneration was brought back to England by crusaders. Her inclusion here may hint at an early date for the church's foundation.
Mildred Holland died in 1878; William served on until 1892, a total of forty years. He gave the font cover in memory of his wife and also the brass lectern with its graceful angels and winged dragons. Their graves are in the churchyard to the west of the entrance gates. Side by side they lie, beneath a table tomb alongside a standing cross.
It is natural to speculate about the roof. It is of a single hammer-beam construction, arch-braced principals alternating with hammer-beams ending in carved angels. The angels in the nave carry a crown or a banner, those in the chancel have heraldic shields bearing arms. The question all ask is: are these angels genuinely medieval work which escaped the axes of the post-Reformation Puritans, (and remember that William Dowsing, the arch-destroyer, came from nearby Laxfield) or are they all the handiwork of Victorian craftsmen?
Traditional East Anglian hammer-beam roofs generally terminate in a carving of some sort, and the de la Poles made angel roofs in the churches of their manors, even taking Suffolk carpenters to Ewelme in Oxfordshire to make one there. But our angels are too perfect to be so old. Entries in a tradesman's account of 1865 would seem to settle the matter; or do they?
The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries were times of great development and two families, both wealthy and influential, used their means to beautify and rebuild the churches on their manors including St Mary's. Keeping up with the neighbours is not a new fashion. Both left their marks on the font which, standing on restored steps and with a splendid cover, shows two heraldic shields.
The shield facing south depicts the arms of de Ufford while that on the north side is of de la Pole.
The de Ufford shield is that of Sir William de Ufford, Earl of Suffolk during the reign of Edward III. He held Framlingham Castle for the King and owned several manors in Suffolk. Among these were Parham, where he built the church, and Huntingfield.
The other shield is that of Michael de la Pole, Lord Chancellor and Earl of Suffolk, who married Catherine, daughter and heiress of Sir John Wingfield of Wingfield Castle. He succeeded to the manor of Huntingfield through his wife, and died in 1389. The shield shows both of their arms.
Michael de la Pole's has three polecat faces while Catherine Wingfield's has three open wings. Both are puns on their names. (For another heraldic pun look for the arms of Huntingfield being held by one of the angels in the roof: three hunting horns on a 'field'.)
In Ufford church you can see a medieval font cover which was a model for ours when it was made in the nineteenth century. In Wingfield church there is a font so like ours that it was probably made by the same craftsman.
www.stmaryshuntingfield.org.uk/history.htm
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There is nowhere else in Suffolk quite like St Mary. Huntingfield is one of the county's most obscure villages; there are hardly any signposts to it. It is the nearest village to the great pile of Heveningham Hall, and perhaps these two facts are not unconnected. But it is worth getting out the old Ordnance Survey map, because here at St Mary was a remarkable 19th century restoration.
In the second half of that century, many parish churches were drawn by the excitement of the age into major reconstructions and revisions. They often looked to London stars like Scott and Butterfield, or local plodders like Phipson, or else mavericks like Salvin. The demands of the new liturgical arrangements, coupled with a renewed sense of the need to glorify God, led them into what was often a rebuilding rather than a restoration. Internal decorations were, perhaps, the bespoke work of the architect; witness Phipson's meticulous attention to detail at St Mary le Tower, Ipswich.
Other restorers relied on the big picture, a vision that encompassed walls and floors, but left the fittings to others; as, for example, Salvin's Flixton St Mary. What was the driving force behind Victorian revisionism? Essentially, what happened in England between about 1830 and 1870 was a cultural revolution, a ferment of new ideas and the reaction to them. The changes proposed by the Oxford Movement were, at first, objectionable, and then merely controversial; but gradually, they seeped into the mainstream, until by about 1890 they had become as natural as the air we breathe.
By the centenary of the movement in the 1930s, one Anglican clergyman could observe "It is as if the Reformation had never happened". Well, not quite. And now, the pendulum has swung the other way, leaving the ritualists high and dry. But the evidence of the energy of those days survives, especially at Huntingfield, where it was the local vicar who drove the Oxford Movement through the heart of the parish, like a motorway through a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
What the vicar of Huntingfield had, and many other ministers didn't, was a visionary wife. Between 1859 and 1866, Mrs Mildred Holland planned, designed and executed the most elaborate redecoration of a church this county had seen since the Reformation. For seven years, she lay on her back at the top of scaffolding, first in the chancel (angels) and then in the nave (saints on the ceilure, fine angels on the beam ends), gilding, lettering and painting this most glorious of small church roofs. Her husband, the Reverend William Holland, kept a journal throughout this period, and there is no suggestion that she had any assistance, beyond that of workmen to raise the scaffolding, and a Mr E.L. Blackburne FSA, who was, apparently, an 'authority on medieval decoration'.
J.P. St Aubyn was responsible for the structural restoration of this largely 15th century building, and it is very restrained and merciful. He did, however, refit the little windows in the south clerestory. But you come here to see the painted roofs, which are perfectly splendid. Beware if you come with children, or it will cost you a fortune in pound coins to activate the illuminations.
The font cover is not part of Mildred Holland's work; rather, it is her memorial, as is the art nouveau lectern. It is as if her art was a catalyst, inspiring others to acts of beauty. She died in the 1870s, predeceasing her husband by twenty years. They are both now buried by the churchyard gate. How fitting, that they should lie in the graveyard of the church they loved so much, and to which they gave so much of their time, energy and money.
Curiously, Ann Owen, the wife of the vicar of nearby Heveningham, produced the stained glass there; a novel is waiting to be written about these two women.
For such an obscure village, St Mary has had its share of influential patrons. Four major families in particular have left their mark here. Before the Reformation, the de la Poles and Uffords, whose shields you'll find on the font, and in later years the Cokes and the Pastons, both more usually associated with Norfolk.
But, as I have said, you don't come to Huntingfield because of important dead people. Look up, look all around, and see the true memorial to Mrs Holland. It does not have the gravitas of Lound, or the piety of Kettlebaston. And I really love it for that. I think this is a place that should be better known, and not just because of the way it contrasts with the less successful 19th century restorations at neighbouring Cookley and Walpole.
What we have here is as fine a display of 19th century folk art as you'll find anywhere in the county.
Simon Knott, 2001 (updated 2007)
I had no idea what to expect at Yalding, either the town or church. Jools realised it was near to West Farleigh, so we went to investigate.
Across what looked like a canal and then the river via an old pack bridge, with the tower of the church on the far bank.
The town, or this part of it, stretched either side of the High Street, and once parked, we approach the church down an alleyway and I see the porch doors open; a good sign.
I explained what I was at the church for: are you going to be long, I was asked.
As quick as I can be.
What I found was a huge parish church, the back of which had been converted into a community space, with a fitted kitchen, wooden floor for use possible as a gym or space for yoga, and the east kept as a fine parish church, filled with monuments, memorials and fine fixtures and fittings. Three wardens were tidying up preparing for Candlemass the next day.
I go round taking shots, taking nearly and hour to do so, as there was so much detail.
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The little cupola on the west tower is topped by a weathervane dated 1734, and summons us to a large church, heavily restored in the 1860s, but worth travelling a long way to see. The nave roof has two interesting features - one is a form of celure or canopy of honour over the third bay from the west. It must have served some long-forgotten purpose. At the east end of the nave there is a real Canopy of Honour in its more usual position over the chancel arch. The south transept contains many interesting features - niches in the walls, bare stonework walls and a good arcaded tomb chest recessed into the south wall. There is a telling string course that suggests a thirteenth-century date, although the two windows in its east wall are Decorated in style. The most recent feature in the church - and by far the most important - is the engraved glass window in the chancel. It was engraved by Laurence Whistler in 1979 and commemorates Edmund Blunden, the First World War poet. It depicts a trench, barbed wire, a shell-burst and verses from Blunden's poems. This feature apart it is the nineteenth-century work that dominates Yalding - especially the awful encaustic tiles with arrow-like designs, the crude pulpit with symbols of the evangelists and the poor quality pews. The glass isn't much better, the Light of the World in the south chancel window being especially poor, but the south window of the south transept (1877) showing scenes from the Life of Christ redeems the state of the art.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Yalding
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YALDING.
NORTH-WESTWARD from Hunton lies Yalding, antiently written Ealding, which signifies the antient meadow or low ground.
Most of this parish is in the hundred of Twyford, and the rest of it, viz. the borough of Rugmerhill, is in the antient demesne of Aylesford. That part of this parish, which holds of the manor of West Farleigh, is in the borough of West Farleigh, and the borsholder thereof ought to be chosen at the court leet there, and so much thereof as is held of the manor of Hunton, is in the borough of Hunton, and the borsholder thereof is chosen at the court leet there; and the inhabitants of neither of these boroughs owe service to the court holden for the hundred of Twyford, within which hundred they both are; but at that court a constable for that hundred may be chosen out of either of these boroughs.
THIS PARISH lying southward of the quarry hills, is within the district of the Weald. It is but narrow, but extends full four miles in length from north to south, the upper or northern part reaches up to the quarry hill adjoining to West Farleigh, near which is Yalding down, on which is a large kiln for the purpose of burning pit coal into coke, which is effected by laying the coal under earth, and when set on fire quenching the cinders; the method is used in making charcoal from wood, the former particularly is much used in the oasts for the drying of hops, so profitably encouraged in this neighbourhood. Below it, near the river Medway, its western boundary in this part, opposite to Nettlested, stands the seat of Sir John Gregory Shaw, bart. a retired, but not an ill chosen situation. It was for several generations the residence of the family of Kinward, which from the reign of king Henry VIII. was possessed of good estates in this parish and its neighbourhood, and bore for their arms, Azure, on a bend or, three roses gules, between three cross-croslets, fitchee argent. Robert Kenward, esq. of Yalding, resided here, and dying in 1720, was buried with the rest of his family in this church; he left a son John, and several daughters, of whom the third, Martha, married the late Sir Gregory Page, bart. and died S. P. John Kenward, esq. the son, died in 1749, leaving by Alicia his wife, youngest daughter of Francis Brooke, esq. of Rochester, one daughter and heir Alicia, who carried this seat and a considerable estate in this neighbourhood to Sir John Shaw, bart. late of Eltham, whose eldest son, Sir John Gregory Shaw, bart. is the present owner of it, and resides here. (fn. 1). In this part of the parish the land is kindly both for corn and hops, of which there are several plantations, and round the down there are some rich grass lands, but further southward where the parish extends to Brenchley, Horsemonden, and Mar den, it is rather a sorlorn country, the land lying very low, and the soil is exceeding wet and miry, and much of it very poor, and greatly subject to rushes, being a stiff unfertile clay; the hedge rows are broad and interspersed with quantities of large spreading oak trees.
The river Medway flows from Tunbridge along the west side of the upper part of this parish as mentioned before, there are across it here two bridges, Twyford and Brandt bridge, leading hither from Watringbury, Nettlested and East Peckham; a small stream, which comes from Marden, and is here called the Twist, flows through the lower part of this parish towards the west side of it, and joins the main river at Twyford bridge, which extends over both of them; another larger stream being a principal head of the Medway flowing from Style-bridge by Hunton clappers, separating these two parishes, joins the main river, about a quarter of a mile below Twyford bridge; on the conflux of these two larger streams the town of Yalding is situated, having a long narrow stone bridge of communication from one part of the town to the other, on the opposite bank of the Hunton stream. Leland who lived in king Henry the VIIIth.'s reign, calls it a a praty townelet, to which however at present it has no pretensions. The church and court-lodge stand at the north end of the town. A fair is held in it on WhitMonday, and on October 15, yearly. The high road over Teston bridge, and through West Farleigh, leads through the town, and thence southward along the hamlets of Denover and Collens-street to Marden; at a small distance from the former is the borough of Rugmarhill, esteemed to be within the antient demesne of Aylesford, belonging to Mrs. Milner.
Adjoining the town southward is Yalding lees, over which there is another high road, which leads from Twyford bridge, parallel with the other before-mentioned, along the hamlet of Lodingford, and thence through the lower part of this parish towards Brenchley, near the boundaries of which in this parish is an estate still called Oldlands, which appears in king Edward II's reign to have been part of the demesne lands of the manor of Yalding, for he then confirmed to the priory of Tunbridge a rent charge to be received out of the asserts of the old and new lands of the late Richard de Clare, in Dennemannesbrooke, which he had given to it on its foundation; lower down, close to the stream of the Twist, is the manor house of Bockingsold, the lands of which extend across the river into Brenchley and Horsemonden and other parishes.
A third high road over Brandt bridge passes along the western bounds of this parish, over Betsurn-green towards Lamberhurst and Sussex.
A new commission of sewers under the great seal, was not many years ago obtained to scour and cleanse that branch of the river Medway, or if I may so call it, the Yalding river from Goldwell in Great Chart, through Smarden, Hunton, and other intermediate parishes to its junction with the Rain river, at a place called Stickmouth, a little below the town of Yalding.
The commissioners for the navigation of the river Medway, about twenty years ago, made a navigable cut or canal, from a place in the river called Hampsted, where they judiciously constructed a lock to a place in the river near Twyford bridge, where they erected a tumbling bay for the water, when at a certain height, to pass over. The contrivance of this cut from one bend or angle of the river to the other, is of the greatest utility to the navigation, by not only shortening the passage, but by baying up a convenient depth of water, which they could not have had along the lees, and other adjoining low lands on each side of that part of the river, which is avoided by it, or at least not without a very great expence.
At the river here the barges are loaded with timber, great guns, bullets, &c. for Chatham and Sheerness docks, London, and other parts, and bring back coals, and other commodities for the supply of the neighbouring country.
In 1757 a large eel was caught in the river here, which measured five feet nine inches in length, and eighteen inches in girt, and weighed upwards of forty pounds.
THE MANOR OF YALDING, or Ealding, as it was usually written, was, after the conquest, part of the possessions of the eminent family of Clare, who became afterwards earls of Gloucester and Hertford, (fn. 2) the ancestor of whom, Richard Fitz Gilbert, came into England with William the Conqueror, and gave him great assistance in the memorable battle of Hastings, and in respect of his near alliance in blood to the king, he was advanced to great honor, and had large possessions bestowed upon him, both in Normandy and England; among the latter was this estate of Yalding, as appears from the survey of Domesday, taken in the 15th year of the Conqueror's reign, in which it is thus entered, under the title of Terra Richardi F. Gislebti:
Richard de Tonebridge holds Ealdinges, and Aldret held it of king Edward, and then and now it was taxed at two sulings. The arable land is sixteen carucates. There are two churches (viz. Yalding and Brenchley) and fifteen servants, and two mills of twenty-five shillings, and four fisheries of one thousand and seven hundred eels, all but twenty. There are five acres of pasture, and wood for the pannage of one hundred and fifty hogs.
In the time of king Edward the Consessor, and afterwards, it was worth thirty pounds, now twenty pounds, on account of the lands lying waste to that amount.
The above-mentioned Richard Fitz Gilbert, at the latter end of the Conqueror's reign, was usually called Richard de Tonebridge, from his possessions and residence there, and his descendants took the name of Clare, for the like reason of their possessing that honor. His descendant, Gilbert, son of Richard de Clare, earl of Gloucester and Hertford, owned it in the reign of king Henry III. and in the 21st year of Edward I. he claimed before the justices itinerant, and was allowed all the privileges of a manor.
¶Gilbert de Clare, earl of Gloucester and Hertford, his son, by Joane, of Acres, king Edward I.'s daughter, succeeded to it, and dying in the 7th year of king Edward II. without surviving issue, his three sisters became his coheirs, and on the partition of their inheritance, this manor, among others in this county, was allotted to Margaret, the second sister, then wife of Hugh de Audley, junior, who in the 12th year of Edward II. obtained for his manor of Ealding, a market to be held here weekly, and a fair to continue three days yearly, viz. the vigil, the day of the feast of St. Peter and St. Paul, and the day subsequent to it. He died in the 21st year of it, holding this manor, which he held for his life, by the law of England, of the king in capite. He left an only daughter and heir Margaret, then the wife of Ralph Stafford, who in her right became possessed of the manor of Yalding, and was a man greatly esteemed by king Edward III. who among other marks of his favor, in his 24th year, advanced him to the title of earl of Stafford.
After which it continued in his descendants down to his great grandson, Humphry Stafford, who was created duke of Buckingham anno 23 Henry VI. whose grandson Henry, duke of Buckingham, having put himself in arms against king Richard, in favor of Henry, earl of Richmond, and being deserted by his army, had concealed himself in the house of one Ralph Banister, who had been his servant, who on the king's proclamation of a reward of 1000l. or 100l. per annum, for the discovering of the duke, betrayed him, and he was without either arraignment or judgment, beheaded at Salisbury.
YALDING is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Rochester and deanry of Malling.
The church, which is a large handsome building, consists of three isles and a large chancel, with a square tower at the west end. Against the south wall in it is a very antient altar tomb, which has been much desaced, on which is remaining, Ermine, a bend gules. There was formerly a brass plate on it. On a large stone in the middle isle, is a memorial for Robert Penhurst, descended from Sir Robert Penhurst, of Penhurst, in Suffex, who died in 1610. The arms, on a shield, a mullet. In the chancel there is a handsome monument for the family of Warde, who bore for their arms, Azure, a cross flory or, and one for the family of Kenward, in this parish. In the pavement of the church are several large broad stones, a kind of petrifaction of the testaceous kind, dug up in the moors or low lands in this parish.
Richard de Clare, earl of Hertford, gave the church of Aldinges, with the chapel of Brenchesley, and all their appurtenances, in pure and perpetual alms, to the priory of Tunbridge, lately founded by him.
Gilbert de Glanvill, bishop of Rochester, who came to that fee in the 31st year of king Henry II. confirmed this gift, and granted, that the prior and canons should possess the appropriation of this church in pure and perpetual alms; saving a perpetual vicarage in it, granted by his authority, with the assent and presentation of the prior and canons as follows:
That the vicar should have the altarage, and all obventions, and small tithes belonging to this church, and all houses, which were within the court, and the land belonging to the church, together with the tenants and homages, and the alder-bed, and the tithes of sheaves of Wenesmannesbroke, and the tithes of Longesbroke, of the new assart, and the moiety of meadow belonging to the church; all which were granted to him, to hold under the yearly pension of two shillings, duly to be paid to the prior and canons; and that the vicar should sustain all episcopal burthens and customs, as well for the prior and canons as for himself. And he granted to the prior and canons as part of the appropriation, the tithes of sheaves of this church, excepting the said tithes of Wenesmannesbroke, and of Longebroke; and that they should have the moiety of the meadow belonging to the church, with the fisheries, and the place in which the two greater barns stood, with the barns themselves, and the whole outer court in which the stable stood, with the garden which was towards the east, and the small piece of land which lay by the garden, and the rent of four-pence, which ought to be paid yearly to the court of Eyles forde; reserving to himself the power of altering the endowment of this vicarage, if at any time it should seem expedient; saving, nevertheless, all episcopal rights to the bishop of Rochester, &c. (fn. 16)
The church of Yalding, together with the advowson of the vicarage, remained with the priory of Tunbridge, till the suppression of it, in the 17th year of king Henry VIII. when being one of those smaller monasteries which cardinal Wolsey had obtained for the endowment of his colleges, it was surrendered into his hands, with all the possessions belonging to it.
After which the king granted his licence to him, in his 18th year, to appropriate and annex this church, among others of the cardinal's patronage, to the dean and canons of the college founded by him in the university of Oxford. But here it staid only four years, when this great prelate being cast in a præmunire in 1529, the estates of that college were forfeited to the king, and became part of the royal revenue.
¶Queen Elizabeth, in her 10th year, granted the rectory or parsonage of Yalding, and the advowson of the vicarage, for thirty years, to Mr. John Warde, at the yearly rent of thirty pounds, in whose possession they continued till king James I. in his 5th year, granted the see of them to Richard Lyddale and Edward Bostock, at the like yearly rent, (fn. 17) and they soon afterwards alienated them to Ambrose Warde, gent. of this parish, son of John above-mentioned, in whose descendants they continued down till they came into the possession of three brothers, Thomas, of Littlebrook, in Stone; George and Ambrose, among whose descendants they came afterwards to be divided, and again sub-divided in different shares, one third part to captain Thomas Amhurst, of Rochester; one third of a third part, and a third of a sixth part to Mr. Holmes, of Derby; Mr. Ambrose Ward, of Littlebrook, and the Rev. Mr. Richard Warde, late of Oxford, each alike, and the remaining sixth part by the Rev. Mr. John Warde, the present vicar of this parish, who some years ago rebuilt the vicarage-house in a very handsome manner.
This rectory now pays a yearly fee-farm rent of thirty pounds to the crown.
It is valued in the king's books, at 20l. 18s. 9d. and the yearly tenths at 2l. 1s. 10½d.
There are two separate manors, one belonging to the rectory or parsonage, and the other to the vicarage of this church.
I was in the area, checking up on the Heath Spotted Orchids, and the church was a five minute drive away, in the grounds of a former country house.
I park at the church and find it locked, as expected, but there were directions to a keyholder nearby, walking into the cobbled squares and converted estate buildings now executive housing.
I ring the bell: nothing
I ring again: nothing
I use the knocker: dog barks. Dog attacks the door.
There is angry voices. Or voice. There was the sound of the dog being put into a side room, and the struggle to close the door.
The front door opened: yes?
Can I have the church key, please?
Not sure if I still have it.
Why'd you want it?
To photograph the interior.
Who're with?
I'm with no one, I am photographing all parish churches in the county, and would like to do this one. I showed him my driving licence which should say under job title: obsessive and church crawler.
He seemed satisfied, and let me have the key.
Phew.
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Substantially rebuilt after a fire of 1598. The welcoming interior displays no chancel arch, although the doorways in the arcade show where the medieval rood screen ran the width of the church. The striking east window was designed by Wallace Wood in 1954. There is a good aumbry and piscina nearby. To the north of the chancel stands the excellent tomb chest of Sir John Tufton (d. 1624). The arcade into which it is built was lowered to allow a semi-circular alabaster ceiling to be inserted to set the composition off. Because it is completely free-standing it is one of the easiest tomb chests in Kent to study, with five sons kneeling on the south side and four daughters on the north . In addition there are complicated coats of arms and an inscription which records the rebuilding of the church by Tufton after the fire. On top of the chest lie Sir John and his wife, with their son Nicholas kneeling between their heads. Much of the monument is still covered with its original paint. The organ, which stands in the south aisle, may be the instrument on which Sir Arthur Sullivan composed 'The Lost Chord'. It originally stood in Hothfield Place where Sullivan was a frequent guest.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Hothfield
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HOTHFIELD
IS the next parish northward from Great Chart, and is so called from the bothe, or heath within it. The greatest part of this parish lies within the hundred of Chart and Longbridge, and the remainder in that of Calehill. It is in the division of East Kent.
THE PARISH of Hothfield lies a little more than two miles from Ashford north-westward, the high road from which towards Lenham and Maidstone goes through it over Hothfield heath. It contains about 1250 acres, and fifty houses, the rents of it are about 1300l. per annum. It is not a pleasant, nor is it accounted a healthy situation, owing probably to the many low and watry lands in and about it. The river Stour, which rises at Lenham, runs along the southern side of the parish, which is watered likewise by several small streams, which rise about Charing and Westwell, from under the chalk hills, and join the Stour here. The heath, which contains near one half of the parish, consists mostly of a deep sand, and has much peat on it, which is continually dug by the poor for firing. On the east and west sides of the heath, the latter being called West-street, are two hamlets of houses, which form the scattered village of Hothfield. The Place-house stands on a hill, at a small distance from the corner of the heath southward, with some small plantations of trees about it, forming a principal object to the country round it. It is a square mansion, built of Portland stone, by the late earl of Thanet, on the scite of the antient mansion, close to the church; it has a good prospect round it. The adjoining grass grounds are extensive, and well laid out for the view over them; the water, which rises at no great distance from the house, becomes very soon a tolerable sized stream, and running on in sight of it, joins the Stour a little above Worting mill; these grass lands are fertile and good fatting land, like those mentioned before, near Godington, in Great Chart. The parsonage house, which is a neat dwelling of white stucco, stands at the southern corner of the heath, at the foot of the hill, adjoining the Place grounds, near West-street. Between the heath and Potter's corner, towards Ashford, the soil begins to approach much of the quarry stone.
Though the land in the parish is naturally poor, it is rendered productive by the chalk and lime procured from the down hills. The inhabitants have an unlimited right of commoning with those of the adjoining parish of Westwell, to upwards of five hundred acres of common, which affords them the means of keeping a cow and their poultry, which, with the liberty of digging peat, draws a number of certificated poor to reside here. There is not one dissenter in the parish.
Jack Cade, the noted rebel, in Henry the VI.th's reign, though generally supposed to be taken by Alexander Iden, esq. the sheriff, in a field belonging to Ripple manor, in the adjoining parish of Westwell, was discovered, as some say, in a field in this parish, still named from him, Jack Cade's field, now laid open with the rest of the grounds adjoining to Hothfieldplace.
The plant caryophyllata montena, or water avens, which is a very uncommon one, grows in a wood near Barber's hill, in this parish.
THE MANOR OF HOTHFIELD seems, in very early times, to have had the same owners as the barony of Chilham, and to have continued so, for a considerable length of time after the descendants of Fulbert de Dover were become extinct here. Bartholomew de Badlesmere, who in the 5th year of king Edward II. had a grant of this manor as well as of Chilham in see, appears to have held this manor of Hothfield by grand sergeantry of the archbishop, and accordingly, in the 8th year of it, at the enthroning of archbishop Walter Reynolds, he made his claim, and was allowed to perform the office of chamberlain for that day, and to serve up the water, for the archbishop to wash his hands; for which his fees were, the furniture of his bedchamber, and the bason and towel made use of for that purpose; (fn. 1) and in the next year he obtained of the king, a charter of free-warren for his demesne lands within this manor among others. After this the manor of Hothfield continued to be held by the like service, and continued in the same owners as that of Chilham, (fn. 2) down to Thomas lord Roos, who became entitled to the see of it, who for his attachment to the house of Lancaster, was, with others, attainted, in the 1st year of king Edward IV.'s reign, and his lands confiscated to the crown. But Margaret his mother, being possessed of it for her life, afterwards married Roger Wentworth, esq. whom she survived, and died possessed of it in the 18th year of that reign; upon which, by reason of the above attaint, the crown became entitled to it, the inquisition for which was found in the 4th year of that reign; immediately after which, the king granted it to Sir John Fogge, of Repton, who was comptroller of his household and one of his privy council, for his life. On king Richard III.'s accession to the crown, he took shelter in the abbey of Westminster, from whence he was invited by the king, who in the presence of a numerous assembly gave him his hand, and bid him be confident that from thenceforward he was sure to him in affection. This is rather mentioned, as divers chronicles have erroneously mentioned that he was an attorney, whom this prince had pardoned for forgery. He died possessed of it in the 17th year of Henry VII. where it remained till Henry VIII. granted it, at the very latter end of his reign, to John Tufton, esq. of Northiam, in Sussex, whose lands were disgavelled by the acts of 2 and 3 Edward VI. who afterwards resided at Hothfield, where he kept his shrievalty in the 3d year of queen Elizabeth. He was descended from ancestors who were originally written Toketon, and held lands in Rainham, in this county, as early as king John's reign; (fn. 3) one of whom was seated at Northiam, in Sussex, in king Richard the IId.'s reign, at which time they were written as at present, Tufton, and they continued there till John Tufton, esq. of Northiam, before-mentioned, removed hither. He died in 1567, and was buried in this church, leaving one son John Tufton, who resided at Hothfield-place, and in July, in the 16th year of queen Elizabeth, anno 1573, entertained the queen here, in her progress through this county. In the 17th year of that reign he was sheriff, and being a person of eminent repure and abilities, he was knighted by king James, in his 1st year, and created a baronet at the first institution of that order, on June 19, 1611. He married Olimpia, daughter and heir of Christopher Blower, esq. of Sileham, in Rainham, by whom he had three daughters; and secondly Christian, daughter and coheir of Sir Humphry Brown, a justice of the common pleas. He died in 1624, and was buried in this church, having had by her several sons and daughters. Of the former, Nicholas the eldest, succeeded him in title and estates. Sir Humphry was of Bobbing and the Mote, in Maidstone, and Sir William was of Vinters, in Boxley, both baronets, of whom further mention has already been made in the former parts of this history.
Sir Nicholas Tufton, the eldest son, was by letters patent, dated Nov. 1, anno 2 Charles I. created lord Tufton, baron of Tufton, in Sussex; and on August 5, in the 4th year of that reign, earl of the Isle of Thanet, in this county. He had four sons and nine daughters; of the former, John succeeded him in honors, and Cecil, was father of Sir Charles Tufton, of Twickenham, in Middlesex. John, the eldest son, second earl of Thanet, married in 1629 Margaret, eldest daughter and coheir of Richard, earl of Dorset, by his wife the lady Anne Clifford, sole daughter and heir of George, earl of Cumberland, and baroness of Clifford, Westmoreland, and Vescy, by which marriage these tithes descended afterwards to their issue. In the time of the commonwealth, after king Charles the 1st.'s death, he was, in 1654, appointed sheriff, and however inconsistent it might be to his rank, yet he served the office. He left six sons and six daughters, and was succeeded by Nicholas his eldest son, third earl of Thanet, who by the deaths of his mother in 1676, and of his cousin-german Alethea, then wife of Edward Hungerford, esq. who died s. p. in 1678, he became heir to her, and sole heir to his grandmother Anne, lady Clifford, and consequently to the baronies of Clifford, Westmoreland, and Vescy; dying s. p. he was succeeded as earl of Thanet and lord Clifford, &c. by his next brother John, who, on his mother's death, succeeded likewise by her will to her large estates in Yorkshire and Westmoreland, and to the hereditary in sheriffdoms of the latter and of Cumberland likewise, for it frequently happened in these hereditary sheriffdoms that female heirs became possessed of them, and consequently were sheriffs of those districts; but this was not at all an unusual thing, there being many frequent instances of women bearing that office, as may be seen in most of the books in which any mention is made of it, some instances of which the reader may see in the differtation on the office of sheriff, in vol. i. of this history. That part of their office which was incompatible for a woman to exercise, was always executed by a deputy, or shyre-clerk, in their name. But among the Harleian MSS. is a very remarkable note taken from Mr. Attorney-general Noys reading in Lincoln's inn, in 1632, in which, upon a point, whether the office of a justice of a forest might be executed by a woman; it was said, that Margaret, countess of Richmond, mother to king Henry VII. was a justice of peace; that the lady Bartlet, perhaps meant for Berkley, was also made a justice of the peace by queen Mary, in Gloucestershire; and that in Suffolk one ..... Rowse, a woman, did usually fit upon the bench at assizes and sessions among other justices, gladio cincta. John, earl of Thanet, died unmarried, as did his next brother earl Richard, so that the titles devolved to Thomas Tufton, who became the sixth earl of Thanet, and lord Clifford, which latter title was decreed to him by the house of peers in 1691. He left surviving issue five daughters and coheirs, the eldest of whom, Catherine, married Ed. Watson, viscount Sondes, son and heir of Lewis, earl of Rockingham; and the four others married likewise into noble families. He died at Hothfield in 1729, having by his will bequeathed several legacies to charitable purposes, especially towards the augmentation of small vicarages and curacies. He died without male issue, so that the titles of earl of Thanet and baron Tufton, and of baronet, descended to his nephew Sackville Tufton, eldest surviving son of his brother Sackville Tufton, fifth son of John, second earl of Thanet. But the title of baroness Clifford, which included those of Westmoreland and Vescy, upon the death of Thomas, earl of Thanet, without male issue, became in abeyance between his daughters and coheirs above-mentioned, and in 1734, king George II. confirmed that barony to Margaret, his third surviving daughter and coheir, married to Thomas Coke, lord Lovel, afterwards created earl of Leicester, which title is now again in abeyance by his death s. p. Which Sackville Tufton died in 1721, leaving Sackville the seventh earl of Thanet, whose eldest son of the same name succeeded him as eighth earl of Thanet, and rebuilt the present mansion of Hothfield-place, in which he afterwards resided, but being obliged to travel to Italy for his health, he died there at Nice in 1786, and was brought to England, and buried in the family vault at Rainham, in this county, where his several ancestors, earls of Thanet, with their countesses, and other branches of the family, lie deposited, from the time of their first accession to that title. He married Mary, daughter of lord John Philip Sackville, sister of the present duke of Dorset, by whom he had five sons and two daughters, Elizabeth; and Caroline married to Joseph Foster Barham, esq. Of the former, Sackville, born in 1769, succeeded him in honors; Charles died unmarried; John is M. P. for Appleby; Henry is M. P. for Rochester, and William. He was succeeded by his eldest son, the present right hon. Sackville Tufton, earl of Thanet, baron Tufton, lord of the honor of Skipton, in Craven, and baronet, and hereditary sheriff of the counties of Westmoreland and Cumberland, who is the present possessor of this manor and seat, and resides here, and is at present unmarried. (fn. 4)
The antient arms of Tufton were, Argent, on a pale, sable, an eagle displayed of the field; which coat they continued to bear till Nicholas Tufton, the first earl of Thanet, on his obtaining that earldom, altered it to that of Sable, an eagle displayed, ermine, within a bordure, argent; which coat was confirmed by Sir William Segar, garter, in 1628, and has been borne by his descendants to the present time. The present earl of Thanet bears for his coat of arms that last-mentioned; for his crest, On a wreath, a sea lion, seiant, proper; and for his supporters, Two eagles, their wings expanded, ermine.
SWINFORT, or Swinford, which is its more proper name, is a manor in this parish, lying in the southern part of it, near the river Stour, and probably took its name from some ford in former times over it here. However that be, it had formerly proprietors, who took their name from it; but they were never of any eminence, nor can I discover when they became extinct here; only that in king Henry V.'s reign it was in the possession of Bridges, descended from John atte Bregg, one of those eminent persons, whose effigies, kneeling and habited in armour, was painted in the window often mentioned before, in Great Chart church; and in this family the manor of Swinford continued till the latter end of king James I.'s reign, when it passed by sale from one of them to Sir Nicholas Tufton, afterwards created earl of Thanet, whose son John, earl of Thanet, before the 20th year of that reign, exchanged it for other lands, which lay more convenient to him, with his near neighbour Nicholas Toke, esq. of Godinton, in which family and name it has continued down, in like manner as that feat, to Nicholas Roundell Toke, esq. now of Godinton, the present possessor of it. A court baron is held for this manor.
FAUSLEY, or FOUSLEY, as it is now usually called, is the last manor to be described in this parish; its more antient name was Foughleslee, or, as it was usually pronounced, Faulesley; which name it gave to owners who in early times possessed and resided at it. John de Foughleslee, of Hothfield, was owner of it in the second year of king Richard II. and in his descendants this manor seems to have continued till about the beginning of queen Elizabeth's reign, when it passed by sale to Drury; from which name, at the latter end of it, this manor was conveyed to Paris, who immediately afterwards alienated it to Bull, who soon afterwards reconveyed it back again to the same family, whence, in the next reign of king James I. it was sold to Sir Nicholas Tufton, afterwards created earl of Thanet, in whose successors, earls of Thanet, it has continued down to the right hon. Sackville, earl of Thanet, the present owner of it.
Charities.
RICHARD PARIS, by deed in 1577, gave for the use of the poor, a rent charge of 16s. per annum, out of land called Hanvilles, in this parish; the trustees of which have been long ago deceased, and no new ones appointed since.
THOMAS KIPPS, gent. of Canterbury, by will in 1680, gave for the use of the same, an annual rent charge of 1l. out of lards in Great Chart.
RICHARD MADOCKE, clothier, of this parish, by will in 1596, ordered that the 11l. which he had lent to the parishioners of Hothfield, towards the rebuilding of their church, should, when repaid, be as a stock to the poor of this parish for ever.
SIR JOHN TUFTON, knight and baronet, and Nicholas his son, first earl of Thanet, by their wills in 1620 and in 1630, gave certain sums of money, with which were purchased eight acres of land in the parish of Kingsnoth, of the annual produce of 10l.
DR. JOHN GRANDORGE, by deed in 1713, gave a house and land in Newington, near Hythe, of the annual produce of 7l. which premises are vested in the earl of Thanet.
THOMAS, EARL OF THANET, and SACKVILLE TUFTON. Esq. grandfather of the present earl, by their deeds in 1720 and 1726, gave for a school mistress to teach 24 poor children, a rent charge and a house and two gardens, in Hothfield, the produce in money 20l. The premises were vested in Sir Penyston Lambe and Dr. John Grandorge, long since deceased; since which the trust has not been renewed; and the original writings are in the earl of Thanet's possession.
Such of the above benefactions as have been contributed by the Tufton family, have been ordered by their descendants to be distributed annually by the steward of Hothfield-place for the time being, without the interference of the parish officers, to such as received no relief from this parish; the family looking upon these rather as a private munisicence intended to continue under their direction.
The poor annually relieved are about twenty-five, casually as many.
HOTHFIELD is situated within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Charing.
¶The church, which is small, is dedicated to St. Mary, and consists of three isles and a chancel, having a low spire steeple, covered with shingles at the west end, in which are five bells, and though it stands on a hill, is yet very damp. There is not any painted glass in the windows of it. On the north side in it, is a monument of curious workmanship, having the figures of a man and woman, in full proportion, lying at length on it; at three corners of it are those of two sons and one daughter, kneeling, weeping, all in white marble; round the edges is an inscription, for Sir John Tufton, knight and baronet, and Olympia his wife, daughter and heir of Christopher Blower, esq. On the monument are the arms of Tufton, with quarterings and impalements; on the sides are two inscriptions, one, that he re-edified this church after it was burnt, at his own charge, and under it made a vault for himself and his posterity, and after that he had lived eighty years, departed this life; the other enumerating his good qualities, and saying that by his will he gave perpetual legacies to this parish and that of Rainham. This monument is parted off from the north isle by a strong partition of wooden balustrades, seven feet high. The vault underneath is at most times several feet deep with water, and the few coffins which were remaining in it were some years since removed to the vaults at Rainham, where this family have been deposited ever since. On the north side of the chancel is a smaller one, formerly called St. Margaret's chapel, now shut up, and made no use of. In the south isle is a memorial for Rebecca, wife of William Henman, esq. obt. 1739, and Anna-Rebecca, their daughter, obt. 1752; arms, A lion, between three mascles, impaling a bend, cotized, engrailed. This church, which is a rectory, was always esteemed an appendage to the manor, and has passed accordingly, in like manner with it, down to the right hon. Sackville, earl of Thanet, lord of the manor of Hothfield, the present patron of it.
This rectory is valued in the king's books at 17l. 5s. and the yearly tenths at 1l. 14s. 6d.
There was a pension of ten shillings paid from it to the college of Wye. In 1588 here were communicants one hundred and ninety-three, and it was valued at eighty pounds. In 1640, communicants one hundred and ninety, and valued at only sixty pounds per annum. There is a modus of two pence an acre of the pasture lands in the parish. There are twelve acres of glebe. It is now worth about one hundred and twenty pounds per annum.
Richard Hall, of this parish, by will in 1524, ordered that his feoffees should enfeoffe certain honest persons in his house and garden here, set beside the pelery, to the intent that the yearly serme of them should go to the maintenance of the rode-light within the church.
This church was burnt down in the reign of king James I. and was rebuilt at the sole expence of Sir John Tufton, knight and baronet, who died in 1624. His descendant Thomas, earl of Thanet, who died in 1729, gave the present altar-piece, some of the pewing, and the pulpit.
Although the autumn season in Vancouver has its share of rainy days, the trees changing colour is phenomenal and easily makes up for the wet weather! Last week, I had the chance to work with this gorgeous yummy mommy Elena, lead organizer of Meetup.com’s Pregnant and Fabulous Group for Vancouver’s pregnant ladies. At 8 months into her term, Elena booked her maternity photo session with me at Vancouver’s gorgeous Queen Elizabeth Park.
Day 2 of 2017 Mid-Season Invitational Semifinals at Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 20 May 2017.
"This great festive event promises fun for all the family right in the heart of Loughborough City Centre. Sign up online to receive your free Santa Suit and join thousands of other Santas for some festive family fun on this 5km fun run. You can run, walk or stroll alongside more than 1,500 Santas and take in the atmosphere as we kick off Christmas 2017."
Note the incorrect term 'City'. Loughborough is a town!
More details and entry form here...
www.loros.co.uk/support-us/events/2017/12/03/the-loughbor...
St Mary, Duddington, Northamptonshire
And so to church-exploring again, a day in which our hero takes a bicycle ride into Rutland and north Northamptonshire. He rides two ridges either side of the great Welland Vale, meets an eccentric churchwarden, sees double, frightens a horse, has his head turned by a young American lady, witnesses the longest railway viaduct in the British Isles, has another incident with a lady over wheelie bins and climbs hills no man of his age should be expected to climb.
An early start, the 0600 from Ipswich, arriving Stamford, Lincolnshire at 0810, and then I headed straight across the county border and up and out the long ridge that runs on the Northamptonshire side of the Welland Vale, climbing higher and higher with spectacular views into the Vale below. The day was overcast, which is always a disappointment in this part of the world with its stone buildings which are brought to life in sunshine, but even so the villages are lovely and the rolling hills dramatic.
My plan was to visit my 50th Northamptonshire church, and then cut and run back to Stamford via Ketton. However, this was not the way things would turn out.
My first port of call was only a couple of miles out of Stamford, but involved a steep climb on the busy Stamford to Kettering road before turning off and swooping down and then up into the exquisitely pretty hilltop village of Easton-on-the-Hill and its church of All Saints, which I was surprised to find was locked without a keyholder notice. I hadn't expected this. I wondered if I was too early, because it was still a few minutes short of 0830, but the bloke cutting the grass said it was usually open by this time, but he thought it had been left locked because there was a wedding later that day. He didn't have a key, and of course as it is usually open every day there wouldn't be a keyholder notice, would there.
It seemed a shame, because Pevsner has lots to say about how lovely the inside is. A big church, the graveyard narrow and big-treed to the south, difficult to get a shot from that side, but wide-open to the north with some grand 18th Century memorials, which was some recompense. The 18th Century was Stamford's heyday of course, one of the most important towns in England before the Industrial Revolution.
I hate starting the day with a locked church, but it would be one of only a couple in the course of the day. I headed back on to the busy road which in less than two miles brought me into Collyweston, an even prettier village, although the traffic spoilt it a bit. Here was the church of St Andrew, locked with a keyholder notice. The church is set back from the main road behind a large wall, with just a narrow doorway entrance. This is unusual, but it is the same at Helpston in Cambridgeshire, not so very far off and a very friendly church. However, this doorway had a sign saying 'this gate is closed. The trees are dangerous.'
I peeped over the wall, and the church looked a bit neglected. Was it still in use? I headed up the main road and turned off into an unutterably lovely high street of mainly 17th and 18th Century stone buildings, some thatched, others roofed in 'Collyweston tiles'. A gated alleyway ran up to the south side of the church, and a sign said 'you can't get through the churchyard. The trees are dangerous'. All very curt and to the point. I headed down to the church, but I could see the padlock on the doors, and a sign 'Because we've had robberies, we have to keep the church locked. If you have a genuine reason for visiting, the key is at...' and it listed five keyholders, all surprisingly close by, neighbours in fact.
I chose the first one on the list, a few doors down from the gated alley. Here, a sign said 'tradesmen, itinerants and salespeople - you can knock on this door all you like, no one will hear you. If you have a genuine reason for calling, open the door, walk up the alley and ring the bell at the far end.' At this point I realised I was dealing with a genuine eccentric, and so it proved. He jumped at the chance to show a stranger his church. As we walked back to the church I said I was sorry to hear there had been robberies. "Yes, well," he said, "there was one long ago. But the main reason we keep the church locked is we can't find anyone reliable to open and close it each day', which reminded me of one of the reasons my late friend Tom Muckley used to give as the most likely ones for churches to be kept locked, and not for security reasons at all.
A tall, rather shabby church, and stepping inside was to find a rather sad interior and a sense of past glories, for Lady Margaret Beaufort had a castle at Collyweston, and the 15th Century brought plenty of money for church renewal. A chapel at this time was built on the south side of the chancel, and 20th Century restoration has revealed inside it the original outside wall of the late Norman church. There is a very good AK Nicholson war memorial window which includes an image of the church (and, incidentally, part of the churchwarden's house, he was proud to note). There is a very tall south clerestory, but no aisle, filled with early 19th Century glass 'brought here from a Yorkshire church'. No one seems to know who it is by. I noticed the Sarum screen still in use, and I asked the churchwarden if they were still High Church. 'We get what we're given', was his curt reply.
I said farewell to my new friend and then headed back on the busy road towards the next village, which was set below where the A47 Leicester to Great Yarmouth road crosses it. On the map it looked a busy junction, but I knew the A47 well from travelling to and from Leicester when my son was at university there, and it is quite cycleable at this point, quite unlike what it will be like once it gets into Norfolk. A lot of the traffic there must come off of the A1 I suppose. Duddington was reached after a short distance in the Leicester direction, and here was the church of St Mary, and it was open.
A lovely village, and a delightful setting for the church, up an alley between cottages and then set on a small, round, raised churchyard, which must be an ancient space. The church is very pretty, though a bit of an oddity, as the spired tower is set at the east end of the south aisle. Inside, the church is lovely, such a difference to the previous church, clean and light and overseen by glorious Norman arcades with capitals, but on a small scale, for this is not a big church. I thought it was delightful, and of course it had no difficulty in stepping up as church of the day so far.
I now headed out of Duddington at the western end of the village back onto the A47, but just before I reached it I crossed the gently winding River Welland by an old stone bridge and in doing so crossed into Rutland for the first time. Barely half a mile on the A47, and I turned off again towards Tixover.
To be continued.
Well, I didn't expect to get a shot like this in the last week of March! This time last year, the UK was in the middle of a heat wave, temperatures got to 20C and now this year, we've got snow... Lots of it! Madness. Actually, although we had quite a bit of snow over the weekend, it temporarily warmed up on Monday and mostly melted on lower ground near our house. However, after risking our necks slipping our way through town (the pavements were still covered in ice!), Barney and I found plenty of nice powdery snow up on the hills. Barney went wild :)
He had a fantastic time, almost all of my shots were similar to this: mad looking dog approaching at top speed! I learned early on to take photos very quickly, then jump out the way before there's a collision. A few yrs back, on another snowy hillside Barney knocked dad right off his feet and very nearly into an electric fence... Evil hound just skipped away, laughing his head off while my dad cursed Barney specifically and collies in general, and I tried very hard not to giggle (and took note to watch out for the dog)! Barney is better trained and less inclined to knock people over now but in snow, all bets are off... Collisions, nippings and bag snatches are all risks you take when out with a snow-crazed Barney!
I know there are lots of experienced dog owners on here, so I thought I'd ask some advice. When people meet Barn, they mostly assume he's barely older than a pup (he's skinny and bouncy!) but he's 6 1/2 now. He has an active life - lots of running, jumping, twisting etc - tending to hurl himself around a lot! Anyway, I've noticed recently that in the evenings after a long(ish) walk Barney is definitely looking a bit stiff. Nothing terrible and he's not limping but is definitely slower than normal getting up after rest. So, any suggestions for supplements/tips etc that might help with mild achiness?
My first week at work completed. I surprised myself. I was expecting to be planning escape routes, finding reasons to leave early, sourcing hiding places for tots of whiskey and emergency chocolate.
To my utter shock I found that I was able to partake in my favourite past time whilst being paid. I had regular bouts of hysterics (and not the unhappy, smudged make up, pulling hair out kind). I had forgotten that real people (and not only Russell Brand or Eddie Izzard) are able to make me bend double.
So this weekend, having done one of those 5-day weeks that I have heard legend of I felt totally justified in returning to loaf-dom. Previously my lolling on the bed with a library of vengeful DVDs playing continuously throughout the day, lying in a nest of magazines and books and permitting myself to nap like a fifteen year old goth on his summer holidays felt just a little bit uncomfortable. I felt the odd wince of pain as I recalled all the things I ought to be doing. I wrote lists that I knew would be used only as bookmarks.
Now having spent 40 hours wincing in an office at different things that needed to be done I had to turn off my guilt valve and wallow in luxurious nothing.
I’m becoming a dirty old woman though.
Athletics is on TV and where once I wouldn’t have been that interested now I ogle like a farmer at an auction.
I shouldn’t admit this but I hope that I am not alone….. During the weekend I was sat on the tube when a gaggle of cricketing schoolboys stumbled aboard my carriage oozing boyish scents, lynx, Physio sport – these cheap boyish deodorants drive me a bit wild and I (surreptitiously of course) studied them and wondered which would become fabulous specimens of men in a few years time. I wondered if there should be some kind of bidding system on ebay for boys/men coming of age and you can put in a bid and see in a few years time if you win your very own fresh young man to corrupt. They did it in Japan with Geishas – and perhaps there could be a clause where you could withdraw your bid if you found that your chosen boy was developing into rather a geeky gangly stork rather than the curly haired figure of David that you had hoped.